Operations at Rajaei port have resumed after the explosion, said Iran’s Deputy Roads Minister Saeed Rasouli, insisting the damage was confined to a 15-hectare area of the container yard.
“So far, 26 ships have docked, and maritime activities are ongoing without interruption,” he added.
Rasouli said the rest of the 2,400-hectare facility remains intact and that only part of a 4,000-container stockpile was affected by fire. Investigations into the contents of the containers are ongoing, he said.
The head of Bandar Abbas’s medical council warned that some victims of the explosion at Rajaei Port may still face life-threatening complications despite being discharged from hospitals.
“Some injured individuals may have left with prescriptions for CT scans or specialist tests, but these essential steps must be followed up,” Hossein Karampour told IRNA.
He said internal bleeding, brain trauma, or chemical inhalation injuries may not appear immediately but could prove fatal. Karampour, a radiologist, also cautioned about toxic gas exposure symptoms emerging up to two weeks later and urged tetanus vaccination for the wounded.
Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that Iran will no longer tolerate attacks without retaliation, declaring that “the era of hit and run is over,” according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).
Speaking at a Persian Gulf Day event in Tehran, Zarif pointed to Iran’s missile strike on a US base following the 2020 killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, as well as recent strikes on Israel, as signs of a new deterrent stance.
“We are the only country that launched missiles at a US base after being attacked,” Zarif said. “Israel attacked us, and we hit back… If our missiles had hit populated areas, you’d have seen what Iran is capable of.”
Zarif also referenced the recent explosion at the Shahid Rajaei port, offering condolences to the victims’ families and saying “all of Iran is mourning Bandar Abbas.”
He said Iran has developed “an internal capacity to defend national security” and rejected claims that the country has grown weaker. “We paid a high price for where we are today,” he said, expressing gratitude to war veterans, martyrs, and Iranian leaders.
Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said workers are the “first victims of inhumane policies,” condemning Iranian authorities in a message marking International Workers’ Day.
Referring to the explosion at Rajaei Port in Bandar Abbas, Ebadi wrote that more than five days have passed since the explosion in Bandar Abbas, but more than 20 of the victims have still not been identified. “Dozens of families, in anguish and uncertainty, are shouting a bitter truth,” she said.
Ebadi urged solidarity among workers, teachers, retirees, and students as “the key to change.”
Iran would “pay the consequence” for its support to Yemen’s Houthi group, said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday shortly before a fresh round of nuclear talks is set to begin in Rome on Saturday.
“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis,” Hegseth wrote on X. “You know very well what the US Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”
The US and Iran have so far held three rounds of talks mediated by Oman, aimed at capping Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran says the Houthis act independently.
