Brazil Summons Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Row

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech during his visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdel-Ghany/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech during his visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdel-Ghany/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Brazil Summons Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Row

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech during his visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdel-Ghany/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech during his visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdel-Ghany/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Brazil said Monday it had summoned the Israeli ambassador, in a tit-for-tat move escalating a row that erupted when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva compared Israel's military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust.

The Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement that Brazil had also recalled its own ambassador from Tel Aviv for "consultations," after Israel summoned the Brazilian envoy and declared Lula "persona non grata" over his remarks Sunday, demanding an apology.

"Given the gravity of the statements this morning by the government of Israel, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira... has summoned the Israeli ambassador, Daniel Zonshine, to report today to the foreign ministry," it said.

"He also recalled the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, for consultations. He will depart for Brazil tomorrow."

The row started Sunday, when Lula said the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip "isn't a war, it's a genocide" and compared it to "when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula had "crossed a red line."

Veteran leftist Lula, 78, has also faced backlash at home over his statements, which came during a press conference on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

The Brazil-Israel Institute called his comments "vulgar," and warned they risk "fueling anti-Semitism."



Massive Explosion at Iranian Port Linked to Missile Fuel Shipment Kills 5, Injures Hundreds

In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, a helicopter drops water on the fire after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Razieh Pudat/ISNA via AP)
In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, a helicopter drops water on the fire after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Razieh Pudat/ISNA via AP)
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Massive Explosion at Iranian Port Linked to Missile Fuel Shipment Kills 5, Injures Hundreds

In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, a helicopter drops water on the fire after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Razieh Pudat/ISNA via AP)
In this photo provided by Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, a helicopter drops water on the fire after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Razieh Pudat/ISNA via AP)

A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing five people and injuring more than 700 others.

Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, gave the updated casualty figure in an interview on state television. The previous toll was four dead and more than 500 others injured.

The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

While no one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response."

Port reportedly received chemical for missile fuel

For hours, authorities in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the blast at the port, which is just outside of Bandar Abbas, though they did deny that the explosion had anything to do with the country's oil industry.

However, the port took in a shipment of "sodium perchlorate rocket fuel" in March, the private security firm Ambrey said. The fuel is part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Financial Times. The fuel was going to be used to replenish Iran's missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles," Ambrey said.

Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. Iran hasn't acknowledged taking the shipment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

It's 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 did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel.

Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast.

"Get back get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go!" a man in one video shouted just before the blast. "Tell him to go, it’s going to blow up! Oh God, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back!"

On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a "stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area" for the blast, without elaborating.

Port a major destination for Iranian cargo  

Shahid Rajaei has been a target before. A 2020 cyberattack attributed to Israel targeted the port. It came after Israel said that it thwarted a cyberattack targeting its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran.

Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers, or miles, away from the epicenter of the explosion. State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher.

Hasanzadeh, the provincial disaster management official, earlier told state television that the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State television also reported that there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though no further details were offered.

The Interior Ministry said that it launched an investigation into the blast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also offered his condolences for those affected in the blast.

Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.