25 still hospitalized after port blast injured over 1,500

Sahel Nasiri and his friend Benyamin Gholami were approached by police for a body search and an attempt to confiscate their motorcycle on Friday evening at Zibakenar Beach in Iran’s Gilan province, Hengaw’s report said, according to local sources.

When Nasiri resisted and tried to mount the vehicle, officers shot him twice in the head at close range, killing him.

Nasiri’s body was transferred to the local police station that night, and his friend Gholami was taken into custody, the report said.

Gilan province police said Nasiri and another motorcyclist had been carrying crystal meth, marijuana, and hashish. They said he tried to disarm officers and was “neutralized” after a warning shot failed to stop him.

Nasiri’s death triggered protests by residents of Zibakenar, who set fire to banners on the local police station, according to Hengaw.

The rights group said the demonstrations ended after security forces stormed the area and clashed with protesters.

Nasiri’s body was handed over to his family following hours of protests and threats from authorities and was buried in his hometown on Saturday, the group added.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei commented on the recent Rajaei port explosion, describing it as a common occurrence for institutions and urging bereaved families to "be patient."

During a meeting with Hajj pilgrimage organizers on Sunday, Khamenei said, "Various incidents happen to institutions: earthquakes, fires, deliberate and unintentional destruction, all kinds happen and are compensated."

He added, "Here too, if a problem has occurred for the institutions, God willing, it will be compensated with urgency, with power, with the ability of our lively, capable, and young executive agencies."

Khamenei called on the families of the victims “to be patient so that they may receive a reward thousands of times greater in value and importance than the bitterness of that calamity."

Iranians in nine Canadian cities held candlelight vigils on Saturday to express solidarity with the families of victims of the Bandar Abbas explosion.

Hamed Esmaeilion, who lost his wife and daughter when Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane in 2020, addressed a Toronto vigil attended by politicians and Iranian-Canadian cultural figures.

Esmaeilion criticized Iranian officials for downplaying the severity of the port disaster, saying that change would not come through sorrow but through protest.

The United States will never lift all sanctions on Iran, but will instead only offer piecemeal concessions, a member of Iran's parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Sunday.

Abolfazl Zohrevand told the Didban Iran news website that the US has started negotiations with the nuclear issue to then move on to regional and missile matters, ultimately aiming to destabilize Iran's internal situation.

The first operation on Saturday led to the arrest of five men—aged between 29 and 46— in coordinated raids across Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale, and Manchester, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Four of the men were identified as Iranian nationals and detained under the Terrorism Act of 2006. A fifth man, whose nationality was not disclosed, was arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. All remain in custody as searches continue at multiple addresses across England.

“We are working closely with those at the affected site to keep them updated. We are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

Officials have not disclosed the nature of the suspected target or whether any weapons or materials were seized, citing operational sensitivity.

In a separate investigation, police arrested three more Iranian nationals in London on the same day as part of a counter terror investigation. The men were detained under Section 27 of the National Security Act 2023, which authorizes arrests based on suspected “foreign power threat activity.”

The two operations were not connected to each other, police said.

The arrests come as UK intelligence services warn of sustained threats linked to Iran.

In October, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said authorities had disrupted 20 “potentially deadly” plots tied to Tehran since January 2022.

“Iranian state actors make extensive use of criminals as proxies—from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks,” McCallum said in a public statement.