Iran’s president visits those injured in port explosion that killed at least 28 people

Iran's president visited those injured Sunday in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republic's main ports, killing at least 28 people,

Iran’s president visited those injured Sunday in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republic’s main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant.

The visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturday’s blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province rose to 28 killed and about 1,000 others injured.

While Iran’s military sought to deny the delivery of ammonium perchlorate from China, new videos emerged showing an apocalyptic scene at the still-smoldering port. A crater that appeared meters deep sat surrounded by burning smoke so dangerous that authorities closed schools and businesses in the area.

Iranian state television described the fire as being under control, saying emergency workers hoped that it would be fully extinguished later Sunday. Overnight, helicopters and heavy cargo aircraft flew repeated sorties over the burning port, dumping seawater on the site.

Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s Red Crescent society offered the death toll and number of injured in a statement carried by an Iranian government website, saying that only 190 of the injured remained hospitalized on Sunday. The provincial governor declared three days of mourning.

Private security firm Ambrey says the port received missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets 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.

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.

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