Iran tight-lipped on cause of deadly port explosion that killed at least 40 people

The death toll has spiked sharply, with 1,000 others reported injured, according to the Associated Press, citing Iranian state TV. Of those wounded, 190 remain in hospital, said Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s Red Crescent society.

Iranian authorities have not said what caused the massive explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, killing at least 40 people, amid unconfirmed reports of the possible presence of a chemical used to make missile propellant. Eyewitness accounts and video indicate chemicals in an area of shipping containers caught fire, setting off a much larger explosion. The death toll has spiked sharply, with 1,000 others reported injured, according to the Associated Press, citing Iranian state TV. Of those wounded, 190 remain in hospital, said Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s Red Crescent society. One surveillance video distributed by the Fars news agency shows a small fire beginning among containers, with a number of workers moving away from the scene, before a huge explosion ends the video feed. Emergency workers hoped the blaze would be fully extinguished by Sunday afternoon, after aircraft doused the site with seawater. About 80% of the fires had been contained, Iranian state media reported earlier. CNN has previously reported that hundreds of tons of a critical chemical for fueling Iran’s ballistic missile program arrived at the port in February. Another shipment is reported to have arrived in March. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted an official as saying the explosion was likely set off by containers of chemicals, but did not identify the chemicals. The agency said late Saturday that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area” for the blast. Iran’s national oil company said the explosion at the port was “not related to refineries, fuel tanks, or oil pipelines” in the area.