Explosion at Iran port said caused by missile fuel component from China; toll at 28

The death toll in a blast at a key Iranian port rose to at least 28 with over 1,000 wounded, authorities said Sunday, as an individual tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly confirmed the explosion occurred in a shipment from China of a chemical used to produce missile fuel. Helicopters and aircraft dumped water and firefighting materials from the air as the fire still raged Sunday morning at the Shahid Rajaei port. Iran’s health ministry urged residents of Hormozgan province, where the port is located, to avoid going outside “until further notice” and to use protective masks.

The port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state television that the explosion probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. A regional emergency official said several containers had exploded. The New York Times quoted an individual with ties to Iran’s IRGC, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, who said that sodium perchlorate had exploded. The compound is a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.

The port had taken in a shipment of the chemical in March, the private security firm Ambrey said a day earlier. The fuel was part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. It was unclear why Iran wouldn’t have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel has targeted Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel, including during its response to a massive Iranian missile barrage launched at Israel last October.  (Read more)