Iran's Main Gas Pipeline Hit by Sabotage

Footage broadcast on Iranian state television of a gas pipeline explosion in Borogen
Footage broadcast on Iranian state television of a gas pipeline explosion in Borogen
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Iran's Main Gas Pipeline Hit by Sabotage

Footage broadcast on Iranian state television of a gas pipeline explosion in Borogen
Footage broadcast on Iranian state television of a gas pipeline explosion in Borogen

Iran announced that two explosions along its leading south-north gas pipeline network on Wednesday were caused by sabotage the Iranian oil minister Javad Owji revealed.

Owji told reporters that the "terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1 a.m. on Wednesday in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country."

"We anticipated such acts of sabotage around the anniversary of the Iranian revolution (February 11) and quickly changed the configuration of the transmission network to counter the enemy's objective to cause gas outages in major provinces," he added.

Video clips circulated on social media showing the extent of the bombings in the Fars provinces in the south of the country.

Local media said that one of the bombings occurred in Boroujen, Charmahal, and Bakhtiari in the center of the country.

The city's fire chief said that there were no casualties.

Official media reported that the accident caused gas outages to industrial and administrative facilities and dozens of villages in at least four governorates, but officials denied the reports.

Later, reports stated that the authorities issued orders to reduce gas supplies to government departments in several provinces and factories in Isfahan and Zanjan.

Reuters cited state media saying temporary restrictions had been planned for maintenance.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. The country is witnessing low temperatures, with snow and rain falling in most of the 31 Iranian provinces.

In December, Iran executed five people it accused of having links to the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) in a decades-long hidden war that saw Tehran accuse Israel of launching attacks on its nuclear and missile programs.

Lawmaker Ruhollah Izadkhah told the government ISNA agency that enemies cannot harm the country with "firecrackers."

The MP asserted that the country's economic infrastructure is robust, and the explosions will not affect the country.

Izadkhah described the gas pipeline explosion in Fars Province as "the revenge of the US and the Zionist entity" against the sizeable popular participation in the revolution anniversary march.

A day before the attack, a hacking group affiliated with the Iranian opposition Mojehadin-e-Khlaq Organization (MKO) seized documents and data from the Iranian parliament after hacking the servers of the official website.

Khane Mellat (ICANA.ir) news agency websites were also inaccessible and subject to a cyberattack.

One of the "top secret" and "urgent" documents reveals a warning letter sent from the Supreme National Security Council to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei regarding an "emergency package to secure energy during the four cold months."

The document indicates the authorities' fears of protests erupting due to the gas shortage, citing an imbalance between energy production and consumption, especially gas during the cold months.

According to the letter, Iran faces a daily shortage of 300 million cubic meters due to the imbalance between oil and gas.

It warned that if decisions are not taken, the country's energy security will be at risk, leading to the outbreak of social and security crises in the event of electricity and gas cuts."

Accordingly, the Supreme National Security Council recommended in its letter a detailed package to manage the crisis of providing sustainable energy sources during the cold period to prevent and eliminate the threats and prevent the outbreak of social, security, and economic crises.

The Council called for the Public Prosecution to take measures to lift the ban on diesel consumption to prevent any social and security crises.

It demands that the Public Prosecution coordinate with the Ministry of Intelligence and its parallel agency in the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence to issue its directives to its centers nationwide.

The authorities did not comment on the publication of this document.



A Week after Catastrophic Earthquake, Focus Turns to a Growing Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar

Rescue workers look on as heavy machinery clears the rubble at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar and Thailand. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)
Rescue workers look on as heavy machinery clears the rubble at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar and Thailand. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)
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A Week after Catastrophic Earthquake, Focus Turns to a Growing Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar

Rescue workers look on as heavy machinery clears the rubble at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar and Thailand. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)
Rescue workers look on as heavy machinery clears the rubble at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar and Thailand. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)

Search teams pulled more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake rocked Myanmar killing more than 3,100 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country that was already devastated by civil war.

United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, was to arrive Friday in an effort to spur action following the quake. Ahead of his visit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims "to match the scale of this crisis," and he urged unimpeded access to reach those in need.

"The earthquake has supercharged the suffering with the monsoon season just around the corner," he said Thursday.

Myanmar authorities said Thursday that 3,145 people had been killed, with another 4,589 people injured and 221 missing, and did not immediately update the figures on Friday.

Britain, which had already given $13 million to purchase emergency items like food, water and shelter, pledged an additional $6.5 million in funds to match an appeal from Myanmar's Disasters Emergency Committee, according to the UK Embassy in Yangon.

Many international search and rescue teams were also on the scene, and eight medical crews from China, Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Russia were operating in Naypyitaw, according to Myanmar's military-run government. Another five teams from India, Russia, Laos and Nepal and Singapore were helping in the Mandalay region, while teams from Russia, Malaysia and the ASEAN bloc of nations were assisting in the Sagaing region.

The Trump administration has pledged $2 million in emergency aid and sent a three-person team to assess how best to respond given drastic cuts to US foreign assistance.

On Friday, five bodies were recovered from the rubble in the capital Naypyitaw and the second-largest city of Mandalay, near the epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake March 28, authorities said. The last reported rescue came Wednesday, some 125 hours after the quake struck, when a man was saved from the wreckage of a hotel in Mandalay.

The quake also shook neighboring Thailand, bringing down a high-rise under construction in Bangkok, where recovery work continued Friday. Overall, 22 people have been found dead and 35 injured in Bangkok, primarily from the construction site.

Myanmar´s military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into a civil war.

The quake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, with more than 3 million people displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.

As concerns grew that ongoing fighting could hamper humanitarian aid efforts, the military declared a temporary ceasefire Wednesday, through April 22. The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule.

On Thursday, however, there were renewed airstrikes in Kayah state, also known as Karenni, in eastern Myanmar, according to witnesses.

The military has said that it would still take "necessary" measures against resistance groups, if they use the ceasefire to regroup, train or launch attacks, and the groups have said they reserved the right to defend themselves.