
Explosion rocks Iran's Bandar Abbas port, damages residential building
India Today
The blast comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, following recent nationwide protests in Iran and renewed Western concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme.
An explosion occurred at Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, Iranian media reported, without giving a cause for the blast. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the explosion were "completely false".
Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information. Iranian authorities could not immediately be contacted for comment.
The port of Bandar Abbas lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.
The reported explosion comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian authorities quelled the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran's nuclear programme.
The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the country's clerical rulers.
At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.

Leon Panetta said Iran war was not an unexpected risk. He pointed out that for years, US security officials have known Iran could disrupt global oil supplies by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. According to him, this was a well-known danger, but one that appears to have been overlooked in the current conflict.












