Khamenei urges probe into port blast to identify negligence or intent

Iran's ongoing talks with the US are focused solely on the nuclear issue and don't cover its missile program, deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Sunday.

As a member of Iran's negotiating team, he added that Oman has yet to announce the venue for the next round of talks.

The fire reignited in parts of Rajaei Port in southern Iran after more than 30 hours of efforts to fully contain it, state-run media reported.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi blamed the Islamic Republic for the tragedy in Bandar Abbas, calling it the "root of all disasters."

"We are mourning not only the lives lost, but also the hardship of living under a despotic, inefficient, and unaccountable regime. The Islamic Republic, concerned only with its own survival, has no regard for its people. It bears no responsibility for the suffering it causes," she said in a post on her Instagram page.

"We are living amid tragedies. The greatest tragedy — the root of all disasters — is the regime itself: a regime that shirks responsibility."

Mohammadi called the Islamic Republic "a regime concerned solely with its own survival, where the people have no place."

"It is we, the people of Iran, who must find a way to overcome this situation. With hope, solidarity, and determination, we will bring this painful chapter to an end."

The death toll from the explosion at Rajaei port in Bandar Abbas has risen to 40, said Mohammad Ashouri, the governor general of Hormozgan province.

According to the latest official figures, so far 1,205 people have been admitted to medical centers due to the fire and explosion at the port.

The type of fire and smoke confirms that the explosive material was a derivative of sodium, and that a container is by no means a suitable vessel for storing sodium perchlorate, as the heat inside a container cannot be controlled, Farzin Nadimi, a senior defense and security analyst at the Washington Institute, told Iran International.

He said it did not appear that the containers were refrigerated, and the rise in temperature could have been one of the factors triggering the reaction and fire.

“If someone wanted to cause such a reaction leading to a fire, it would be very easy to set off an explosion in such a shipment. It did not seem that there were any serious security measures in place beyond surveillance cameras," Nadimi said regarding the possibility of an act of sabotage.

According to the analyst, either a person or an aerial device could have been responsible.

Nadimi added: “In the video, we did not see anything hitting the container from the sky, but on the ground, a very small and simple explosive device could have triggered the initial fire.”