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Iran’s government said it delayed releasing full details of the Bandar Abbas port explosion to ensure unified messaging and avoid confusion, but denied imposing a news blackout.

“The decision was not about blocking information. It was about managing the flow to avoid conflicting figures being reported,” government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, adding that “a single voice” was needed in the early aftermath.

Mohajerani acknowledged that authorities asked provincial and crisis officials not to disclose details until the cause of the blast was clarified, but stressed that the government was committed to transparency. “We have no secrets from the people. We are obligated to share the facts because the people are the true stakeholders of this government,” she said.

She also said identifying and punishing those responsible for the explosion was a priority and that rescue efforts and fire containment had taken precedence in the early days. “As soon as I receive reliable information, I will announce it,” she added.

Mohsen Langarneshin had previously spoken of being coerced into confessing under the threat of torture and harm to his family.

Iran International reported on Monday that Langarneshin had been moved to solitary confinement, signaling the imminent execution.

Langarneshin had been arrested by security forces in Tehran on July 3, 2023 and was initially held at a Ministry of Intelligence safehouse.

He later recounted being threatened with torture on the first night of detention and said he was warned he would be subjected to severe torture unless he confessed.

“In the interrogations, they put me under so much pressure,” Langarneshin said in a voice message from prison. “They said they would arrest every member of my family and keep them until I no longer recognize them.”

He said that he was ultimately forced into making false confessions, including to buying a motorcycle equipped with a camera and transporting explosive materials.

A Revolutionary Court in Tehran accused Langarneshin of spying for Israel and sentenced him to death on charges of “waging war against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth”, according to the judiciary’s media outlet Mizan.

Mizan said Langarneshin had been recruited by Israel's Mossad. The judiciary accused him of “supporting the assassination of a person named Sayyad Khodaei, facilitating attacks on a Defense Ministry-linked industrial site in Isfahan, and handling logistics, equipment, safehouses, and money transfers for Mossad operatives.”

In the past four decades, numerous reports have documented the torture of political detainees in Iran, often leading to severe injury or death. The Islamic Republic has consistently denied responsibility.

Forced confessions have long tainted the Islamic Republic. In March, Iran Human Rights said: "The Islamic Republic has used televised confessions as a propaganda tool aimed at creating fear and justifying the heavy sentences handed down to its political opponents and activists since its inception in 1979."

"Such confessions are extracted after physical and/or psychological torture, lengthy solitary confinement, threats or promises of reduction in the gravity of sentences and threats against family members," according to the rights group.

A leading British chemist has cast doubt on Iran’s official explanation for the deadly explosion at its largest port, saying the blast likely involved ammonium perchlorate—a highly volatile missile propellant.

Andrea Sella, a chemistry professor at University College London, said the April 26 explosion at the Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas was far too intense to have been caused by sodium perchlorate alone, as suggested by Iranian state media.

“Sodium perchlorate, on its own, to my knowledge, is not explosive and certainly doesn't detonate like that,” Sella told Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN).

He initially suspected ammonium nitrate, but now believes ammonium perchlorate—a dual oxidizer and reductant used in solid rocket fuels—is the more likely culprit due to the explosion’s intensity and visible smoke signature.

Video footage from the scene showed a distinct orange-brown plume, consistent with nitrogen dioxide, and black smoke in the early stages of the fire, indicating the combustion of organic materials. “The flame turns a bright orange as the fire intensifies, suggesting sodium is also involved,” Sella added.

Iranian officials have said the blast originated from chemical containers but have not disclosed the substances involved.

The New York Times, citing a source with ties to the Revolutionary Guards, reported the presence of sodium perchlorate, while also saying that the cargo's documentation contained “false statements” that misrepresented its hazardous nature.

“Having a single container of a material like that in the middle of a container port is absolutely shocking,” Sella said. Most international ports enforce strict segregation and safety measures for explosive materials, he added.

Satellite images obtained by Iran International show the aftermath of the April 26 explosion over a 50-hectare area at Rajaei port in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran.

The satellite images reveal that the Sina yard, the blast's epicenter which could hold between 12,000 and 20,000 twenty-foot containers, has been completely destroyed.

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The explosion which has devastated Rajaei port, the country's largest container port, has halted more than half of the country's nominal loading and unloading capacity.

The satellite images reveal that the Sina yard, the blast's epicenter which could hold between 12,000 and 20,000 twenty-foot containers, has been completely destroyed.

The area is operated by the US-sanctioned Sina Marine and Port Services, a subsidiary of the Mostazafan Foundation.

The foundation, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate also sanctioned by the United States, is controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Some images are partly obscured due to the massive smoke caused by the blast.

1- Sina yard: 15 hectares

Satellite imagery shows that Sina yard, covering around 15 hectares, has been entirely leveled. Shattered containers are clearly visible in the images. The yard lies approximately 800 meters from the exit and gate control and about 1,400 meters from the first dock.

The administrative building of the Sina Marine and Port Services Development Company, located on the northwestern side of the yard, has been completely demolished.

2- Khazar Qeshm Company: 10 hectares

To the east of the Sina yard lies the Khazar Qeshm Company area, covering 10 hectares, which has also been almost completely destroyed. The company’s warehouse roof, about 500 meters from the explosion’s epicenter, has completely collapsed.

3- Rajaei port customs office: 5 hectares

South of the Sina yard are the administrative buildings of Rajaei port. Satellite images show that destruction extends up to 300 meters into the parking area.This zone had been evacuated, and scattered debris is visible.

Images show that the roof of a building 400 meters from the blast center has also collapsed in the administrative area.

4- Onik area: 500 meters from blast

Explosion damage is visible 500 meters north of the Sina yard, in the Onik yard.

5- Hazardous materials zone: 1,300 meters away

According to a map released by Rajaei port, the designated area for storing hazardous materials—marked as zone 5—is about 1,300 meters from the explosion center. No destruction is observed in this hazardous materials zone.

6- Petroleum product storage tanks

The distance from the Sina premises, the site of the explosion, to the petroleum product storage area and tanks marked as No. 6 in the image is only about 1,000 meters. Had the fire spread to this area, the scale of the explosion could have been far more catastrophic.