Fire reignites in parts of Rajaei port 30 hours after first blast

Apr 27, 2025, 17:47 GMT+1

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.

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Islamic Republic is the root of all disasters, Nobel Peace laureate says

Apr 27, 2025, 17:18 GMT+1

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."

40 people dead, 1,205 injured in port explosion - official toll

Apr 27, 2025, 17:09 GMT+1

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.

Sabotage cannot be ruled out in Iran port blast, analyst says

Apr 27, 2025, 15:44 GMT+1

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.”

Deadly blast in Iran will not derail negotiations, lawmaker says

Apr 27, 2025, 14:48 GMT+1

A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday that the explosion at the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, which he blamed on Israel, would not impact ongoing talks with the US.

Mohammad Seraj, a member of Iran’s parliament representing Tehran, said that the blasts, which struck multiple containers simultaneously, showed clear signs of sabotage orchestrated by Israeli forces.

"This incident will have no effect on the course of negotiations," Seraj said."The Zionists (Israel) are attempting to disrupt Iran’s international relations, but the Iranian people are too wise to be deceived by such conspiracies."

Seraj dismissed the possibility of a natural fire, arguing that chemical materials typically ignite at a single point and would not cause simultaneous explosions at multiple locations.

Iran has not formally accused Israel at the state level, and the investigation into the cause of the explosions is ongoing.

Smoke rises following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 26, 2025.

Resolving US-Iran disputes will take days of negotiations, analyst says

Apr 27, 2025, 14:18 GMT+1

Resolving the wide-ranging disputes between the United States and Iran will require days of intensive negotiations, political analyst and journalist Omid Memarian told Iran International on Sunday.

Memarian said Iran seeks the full removal of US oil and banking sanctions, but Washington has conditioned any lifting of sanctions on Tehran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — a demand the Islamic Republic has so far resisted.

"Verification and access by the IAEA to Iran’s nuclear activities remain major points of contention," Memariansaid, adding that while US officials are pressing for more comprehensive inspections, Iranian authorities continue to impose restrictions on the agency's monitoring efforts.

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