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"Last night the Houthis have announced to us they don't want to fight anymore and we will honor that and we will stop the bombings," US President Donald Trump told reporters in the White House on Tuesday.
"They have capitulated we will take their word. They said they will not be blowing up ships anymore and that's the purpose of what we were doing."
Another disaster, more Iranians killed, no one held accountable, the media gagged: the port blast on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast was news and not news at the same time.
The explosion struck Bandar Abbas, one of Iran’s most vital trade arteries. It cloaked the city in toxic fumes. Schools and government offices were shut, residents were told to stay home and wear masks. Yet officials tried to downplay the severity.
Soon speculations and gossip rivered, as is the case usually, to fill the vacuum left by the state’s evasion.
“You won’t get shock waves 5km away if the blasted containers had sugar or wheat,” my friend Navid, an English instructor, told me shortly after the news came in.
“It has to be explosives,” he posited, “weapons hidden among civilian cargo to protect it from attacks. They don’t care about the human cost.”
Most casualties were port workers, ensuring the flow of goods in and out of the country. As the numbers rose, public fury deepened.
Unofficial accounts pointed to sodium perchlorate and other compounds imported from China for Iran’s missile program. Authorities denied any such link, and one state news report quoting customs officials suggesting improper storage practices was quietly deleted hours later.
The belief that such cargo may have been stored without workers’ knowledge, possibly to shield it from foreign attack, has inflamed a population fed up with incompetence and injustice.
“Either it’s criminal negligence or a deliberate act. And I’m not sure which is worse,” says Amin, who works for a logistics company. “Some say it was Israel, though they denied it instead of their customary silence. But even if it was an Israeli operation, I’d still blame those who hid military cargo among commercial goods.”
Amin is 47, the same age as the Islamic Republic, he reminds me. “My whole life is gone, wasted, under this brutish bunch.”
The frustration, the rage, in Amin’s voice is perhaps the most common emotion I see around me these days. And those in power appear mostly indifferent or oblivious. And I’m not sure which is worse–to borrow Amin’s words.
“Did you see the transport minister on TV,” my doctor’s secretary, jumps at me before I can barely say hello. “Oh my God, she sounded like a game show host, smiling that ‘all is fine’ while the port was in flames and people were going crazy not knowing what had happened to their loved ones.”
She is of the talkative type I would ignore if I weren't researching for a story.
“And then that half-wit (president) Pezeshkian, oh my God, he pays a visit to bed-bound, shell-shocked victims and jokes about walking out of the hospital. At least pretend you care,” she added.
Pezeshkian and his transport minister Farzaneh Sadeq are under fire. The latter has a motion of impeachment waiting for her in the parliament. She likely knew nothing about the containers. As the only female minister, she’s the perfect scapegoat, the “shortest wall” to knock down as we say in Persian.
The only ones held ‘accountable’ here are those trying to shed light on a tragedy. Reporters on the scene have been threatened and silenced. Papers in Tehran have been gently reminded to tow the official line.
“Our editors have received the infamous call,” says Elham, a journalist at a moderate daily. “And they relay the message to us: don’t engage in ‘illegal’ activity. God knows what that even means. We just want to report what we find out.”
After ten days, the port flames are gone. But the fire burning in us—the one lit by the Islamic Republic’s contempt for truth and life—shows no sign of dying down.
Iran and other countries that do not possess atomic weapons have a legitimate right to develop their own civil nuclear energy programs, Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.
Zakharova made the remarks in response to US President Donald Trump's suggestion that the goal of his administration's talks with Iran was to achieve the total "dismantlement" of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday briefed the Assembly of Experts for Leadership in the holy city of Qom on the latest developments in the country's foreign policy, including ongoing indirect negotiations with the United States.
Speaking to the Tasnim news agency on the sidelines of the Assembly's meeting, Araghchi said that members of the influential clerical body expressed their appreciation for the Foreign Ministry's effort.
He added that the ministry's approach continues "with dignity within the framework of national consensus."
Araghchi detailed the topics covered in his briefing, which included responses to questions and concerns from Assembly members regarding various foreign policy areas.
These included indirect talks with the US, the rationale behind the foreign ministry's approach, relations with regional organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, US policies of pressure and threats, and future prospects, according to Tasnim.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had struck and fully disabled Yemen's Sanaa International Airport and power plants in the second round of airstrikes since Monday after the Iran-backed Houthi group attacked Israel's main airport.
News agency photographs appeared to show a mushroom cloud arising from the outskirts of the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa.
"A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport," the Israeli military said in a statement.
"The strike was carried out in response to the attack launched by the Houthi terrorist regime against Ben Gurion Airport. Flight runways, aircraft, and infrastructure at the airport were struck."
The strikes follow Israeli airstrikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Monday after the Houthi ballistic missile landed near Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday, causing several airlines to halt flights.
Monday's strikes killed four people and injured 39, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
The Israeli military said that the airport and port both served as a hub for the transfer of weapons and operatives. "It has been routinely used by the Houthi regime for terrorist purposes," said the statement.
Several central power plants were struck in the Sanaa area as well as the Al Imran Concrete Plant, located north of Sanaa, which the Israeli military said is used for the construction of underground tunnels.
"This strike further degrades the Houthi regime’s economic and military buildup capabilities," the statement added.
Yemen's Houthi-run foreign ministry condemned the attacks, saying, "This aggression will not go unpunished."
"(The attack) reflects ... the failure of the Zionist entity to achieve its goals in Yemen and its attempt to search for a false victory," it added in a statement.
Designated a terrorist organization by countries including the United States, the Houthis have been launching scores of missiles and drones towards Israel and targeting shipping in the Red Sea since the start of the Gaza war, in what it says is solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel's expanding incursion into Gaza.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military again blamed the Houthi attack on Tehran.
"Over the past year and a half, the Houthi terrorist regime has been operating under Iranian direction and funding, with the goal of targeting the State of Israel and its allies, undermining regional stability, and disrupting global freedom of navigation," the Israeli military statement said.
Iran has denied involvement in Houthi attacks on Israel and international shipping, and foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran does not operate through regional proxies.
“The decisions made by the people of Yemen reflect their own will, and all such accusations against Iran are baseless.”
The Israeli military had earlier warned civilians to evacuate the vicinity of the airport.
"Not evacuating puts you in danger," the warning read, publishing a map outlining the area targeted.
