Iranian newspaper says most port blast victims were low-wage workers

A senior Iranian judicial official said Wednesday that the investigation into the deadly explosion at Shahid Rajaei port is in its early stages, and stressed that anyone found responsible will face consequences, regardless of their position.

“The case is in the preliminary investigation phase,” said Mehdi Amiri Esfahani, deputy political and security prosecutor general. “If anyone is found to have acted illegally or negligently, they will be held accountable without exception.”

He said the judiciary is awaiting expert and intelligence reports to finalize its assessment and promised the findings would be announced to the public. At least 70 people were killed in the April 26 explosion, which officials have linked to misdeclared chemical cargo.

Amiri Esfahani added that oversight committees and technical teams are meeting regularly and that the judiciary has asked the interior ministry and security agencies to assist in establishing the full facts.

The child, born on April 22, remains without official identification over a week later.

The parents from Parsabad, a city in Iran’s northwestern Ardabil province, were informed that the name Guntay was deemed unsuitable by the national registry on the grounds that it did not align with what authorities classify as “Iranian and Islamic naming conventions," according to HRANA, a US-based news outlet focused on human rights in Iran.

“This is not the first time the government has interfered in our choice of names,” a source told HRANA. The source said the parents have filed a formal complaint and are pursuing the matter through legal channels.

Without a birth certificate, the child is unable to access basic services including healthcare and legal identity, HRANA reported.

The outlet added that the experience has imposed psychological and administrative strain on the family.

Iran's civil registry system has a documented pattern of rejecting names perceived to originate from non-Persian ethnic traditions. A similar case last year in Tabriz saw authorities block issuance of birth certificates for triplets named Elshen, Elnur, and Sevgi, all Turkish names.

Although a court later ruled in favor of the parents, the registry appealed the decision, sending the case to a higher court.

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has signed, every child must be registered immediately after birth and has the right to a name and nationality. Article 7 of the convention specifically affirms these entitlements, while Article 2 prohibits discrimination based on language or ethnicity.

Iran’s civil registry defends its policies by citing cultural preservation. "The selection of names that insult Islamic sanctities, as well as titles, epithets, and obscene or gender-inappropriate names, is prohibited. Individuals bearing such names must take action to change them," it says on its website.

The agency maintains a name selection database and offers a name interaction system designed to guide parents toward what it calls Iranian and Islamic options.

Critics, including human rights groups and legal scholars, say the law reinforces state control over cultural expression and disproportionately affects the country's wide array of ethnic minorities in provinces with higher populations of them such as Kordestan, Khuzestan, and Sistan and Baluchestan.

The Iranian rial hit an all-time low in March, trading at one million per US dollar in March as tensions with the United States flared.

Now ahead of a third round of Iran-US nuclear talks in Oman on Saturday, the open market rate for the dollar was around 810,000 rials, while two government-controlled rates, the EST and the official rate for importing basic goods stood at 692,000 and 280,000 respectively.

Ordinary people, who often convert their savings into hard currency or gold during periods of political and international uncertainty, generally only have access to the open market.

Many businesses — and even some semi-official entities — also turn to the open market when they cannot access foreign currency through official channels or when they require immediate liquidity.

In recent years, successive governments have attempted to reform Iran’s tangled foreign exchange system to curb corruption fueled by cronyism, where favored individuals, groups and state entities secure access to cheaper rates to import goods that are later sold at much higher open market prices.

The reforms have mostly failed because entrenched political networks benefiting from the system oppose them.

The open market

Iran’s open or free foreign exchange market operates largely outside government control. It consists of authorized currency exchange shops or sarrafi as well as informal street-level transactions.

The open market -- where currencies like the US dollar, Euro, and UAE dirham are the most actively traded -- reflects real-time supply and demand. Prices in the open market are heavily influenced by inflation expectations, political risks, sanctions developments and broader economic conditions.

Open market rates typically run significantly higher than the officially controlled rates, particularly during times of instability and often provide the clearest snapshot of Iran’s underlying economic and political realities.

They serve as a crucial, unofficial benchmark that influences pricing, import costs, and inflation across the country.

The government occasionally intervenes, injecting foreign currency through selected sarrafi or cracking down on street traders they deem illegal when volatility escalates amid ramped up political tension or rapid devaluation.

Official rates for staples, medical goods

This rate, currently 285,000 rials to the dollar, is provided through designated banks to importers of basic goods such as wheat, rice, and animal feed as well as medicine and medical supplies.

The decision on allocation of this type of currency lies with related ministries and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

An earlier preferential rate for these imports fixed at 48,000 rials has now been almost completely scraped.

Electronic Trading System (ETS) rates

The ETS rate, closer to the free-market rate, is set by supply and demand within the Electronic Trading System (ETS) of the Iran Center for Currency and Gold Exchange.

Established in late February 2022, the center was intended to provide a formal platform for cash currency exchanges to undercut the open market.

While exchange rates on ETS are determined by market forces, the CBI actively supervises the platform, intervening by injecting or limiting foreign currency supplies to influence rates.

This managed market — accessible to licensed banks and exchange offices — handles both cash transactions and informal transfers called hawala. Transactions that previously took place through a system dubbed NIMA are now also routed through ETS.

The defunct NIMA system

The NIMA system, an acronym for integrated system of foreign exchange, was created to regulate foreign currency earned through exports and allocate it for imports of non-essential goods and services. It was officially scrapped in January.

Within NIMA, transactions occurred between exporters and importers under CBI supervision, with the central bank setting a floor and ceiling for permissible exchange rates.

For years, NIMA served as the government’s primary tool for managing the trade balance and controlling the flow of foreign currency.

Its elimination marked a significant shift toward market-based pricing mechanisms — albeit still heavily managed — through the ETS platform.

Corruption amid multiple rates

Several major corruption scandals have rocked Iran in recent years, many of which stem from its multi-tiered exchange rate system.

The Debsh Tea Company scandal is one of the most recent and possibly largest embezzlement cases in the history of the Islamic Republic.

High-ranking officials from various ministries, the Customs Administration and the Central Bank were implicated in the scandal that first came to public attention in 2023.

The family-owned company received $3.37 billion in subsidized foreign currency (at the NIMA rate) to import tea and machinery but sold $1.4 billion of the currency it had received in the open market at higher rates, did not import the promised equipment and allegedly imported low-quality tea it labelled as premium-grade.

A member of Iran’s parliament said the deadly explosion at Rajaei port in Bandar Abbas was caused by a company falsely declaring hazardous chemicals as low-risk cargo, leading to improper handling and a fatal blast that killed at least 70 people.

“The cause was not complex. It was negligence and misdeclaration by a company,” said Mohammad Jamalian, a member of the parliamentary health committee. “The forklift operator didn’t know the material was dangerous. A spark set it off.”

Jamalian, part of the parliamentary delegation sent to investigate the April 26 blast, said cost-cutting and bureaucracy may have motivated the false declaration. He also pointed to inadequate X-ray scanning at the port as a critical failure, calling on the government to act urgently.

The United States warned on Tuesday that Iran's regional activities and nuclear program continue to fuel instability across the Middle East.

Speaking at a United Nations Security Council session, US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said Iran’s support for armed militia groups — including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis — was responsible for spreading insidious violence and undermining security across the region.

“Iran poses a threat to the millions of people who call this region home,” Shea said, accusing Tehran of backing whatshe called “terrorist proxies” in addition to its nuclear pursuits.

Shea described Iran’s nuclear program as “another cornerstone of its global campaign for destabilization,” adding that it threatens not only international security but also the wellbeing of the Iranian people.

Shea added that Washington favors a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program but emphasized that the window for negotiations is narrowing.

“President Trump has been clear: There are two paths for Iran to end its nuclear program. The United States prefers a negotiated resolution,” she said. “Time, however, is limited… If Iran refuses to abandon its nuclear weapons program, we must hold it accountable.”