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

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.”

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.

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.

An Iranian parliamentarian accused Israel of orchestrating the deadly explosion at Bandar Abbas’s Rajaei port, according to remarks published Sunday by Rokna News.

Mohammad Seraj, a Tehran MP, said that explosives were pre-planted in containers and detonated remotely, possibly via satellite or timer.

"This event was not accidental," Seraj added. He dismissed natural fire as a cause and linked the incident to broader Israeli efforts to disrupt Iran’s international relations.

Seraj compared the attack to the Beirut port explosion but said damage was contained due to better management. No independent evidence has been presented supporting his comments.