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.



Record Floods Devastate Eastern Australia

Flooding is seen around Settlement Point Road in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, 22 May 2025. EPA/Lindsay Moller
Flooding is seen around Settlement Point Road in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, 22 May 2025. EPA/Lindsay Moller
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Record Floods Devastate Eastern Australia

Flooding is seen around Settlement Point Road in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, 22 May 2025. EPA/Lindsay Moller
Flooding is seen around Settlement Point Road in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, 22 May 2025. EPA/Lindsay Moller

Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help.

Four bodies have been pulled from vast tides of floodwater engulfing parts of northern New South Wales, a fertile region of rivers and valleys some 400 kilometers (250 miles) up the coast from Sydney.

Salvage crews launched a major clean-up operation as waters receded Friday, surveying the damage from half a year's worth of rain dumped in just three days.

"Emotions were high as we were rescuing a lot of people who are distraught when we get to them," rescue worker Jason Harvey told AFP on Friday, describing "frantic" efforts over recent days.

Kinne Ring, mayor of the flood-stricken farming town of Kempsey, said dozens of businesses had been swamped.

"Houses have been inundated," she told national broadcaster ABC.

"There's water coming through the bottom of houses, it's really awful to see and the water is going to take a bit of time to recede."

State Emergency Service boss Dallas Burnes said more than 2,000 workers had been deployed on rescue and recovery missions.

"A real focus for us at the moment will be resupplying the isolated communities," he said, adding that 50,000 people were still stranded.

Burnes said rescue crews had plucked more than 600 people to safety since waters started rising earlier this week.

People clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges before helicopters winched them away.

Although the floods were easing, Burnes said the stagnant lakes of muddy water still posed a threat -- including from snakes that may have slithered into homes in search of shelter.

"Floodwaters have contaminants. There can be vermin, snakes. You need to assess those risks.

"Electricity can also pose a danger as well."

-'Horrific circumstances' -

The storms have dumped more than six months' worth of rain over three days, the government weather bureau has said, smashing flood-height records in some areas.

"These are horrific circumstances," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday as he travelled into the disaster zone.

"The Australian Defense Force will be made available. There's going to be a big recovery effort required," he told local radio.

"There's been massive damage to infrastructure and we're going to have to all really pitch in."

In Taree, local business owner Jeremy Thornton said the "gut-wrenching" flood was among the worst he had seen.

"It is pretty tough, we've had a few moments but you have to suck it up and push on," he told AFP on Thursday.

"We are reliving it every second -- hearing the rain, hearing the helicopters, hearing the siren."

Locals spotted dead cows washing up on beaches after swollen rivers swept them from their pastures inland.

Although a string of flood warnings have been downgraded, some towns were still cut off on Friday afternoon, making it difficult to assess the damage.

The government has declared a natural disaster, unlocking greater resources for affected areas.

- 'Compelling evidence' -

From the arid outback to the tropical coast, swaths of Australia have recently been pummeled by wild weather.

The oceans surrounding Australia have been "abnormally warm" in recent months, according to Australia's government weather bureau.

Warmer seas evaporate more moisture into the atmosphere, which can eventually lead to more intense rains.

Although difficult to link to specific disasters, climate change is already fueling more extreme weather patterns, scientists warn.

Flood modelling expert Mahdi Sedighkia said this week's emergency offered "compelling evidence" of how climate change could affect regional weather patterns.