At least four killed, more than 500 injured in Iran port explosion

At least four people were killed and more than 500 injured in a powerful explosion on Saturday that ripped through a vital port in southern Iran, state media said.

“Unfortunately, at least four deaths have been confirmed by rescuers,” the head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organization, Babak Mahmoudi, told state TV.

State television, citing emergency services, reported that “516 people have been injured as hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres” in the southern province of Hormozgan, where the Shahid Rajaee port is located.

It blew out windows and roofs of nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Residents reported feeling the impact of the blast up to 50km (31 miles) away.

Videos verified by the BBC show a fire growing in intensity before a huge explosion, with people subsequently fleeing the blast and others lying wounded on roads surrounded by smoking debris.

Aerial footage showed at least three areas ablaze and Iran’s interior minister later confirmed that the fire was spreading from one container to another.

Some workers were “still trapped under collapsed roofs and we are trying to rescue them”, one official told local media according to BBC Persian.

One private maritime risk firm said it believed the affected containers had contained solid fuel destined for ballistic missiles.

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

Ambrey said it was aware that an Iran-flagged ship “discharged a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel at the port in March 2025”.

The Financial Times newspaper had previously reported that two vessels had shipped fuel to Iran from China.

State media quoted witnesses as saying the explosion occurred after a fire broke out and spread to unsealed containers storing “flammable materials”.

Customs officials later released a statement reported by Iranian state TV saying the explosion had probably resulted from a fire that had broken out in a hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.

In a later update Ambrey quoted Iran’s National Disaster Management Organisation as saying officials had previously issued warnings to Shahid Rajaee port regarding the safe storage of chemicals.

Shahid Rajaee port is Iran’s largest and most advanced terminal, through which much of the country’s commercial shipping transits.

It is located on the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping channel for oil cargo, and is about 20km (12 miles) west of Bandar Abbas, Iran’s major port city on its south coast and home to the Iranian Navy’s main base.

Iran’s national oil production company said the explosion at the port had “no connection” to the country’s oil refineries, fuel tanks and pipelines, local media reported.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed his “deep regret and sympathy” for victims. He has announced a government investigation and sent the interior minister to the region to lead it.

Saturday’s explosion took place as Iranian and US officials met in Oman for a third round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Negotiations have been under way for several weeks as the US government under President Trump has sought to strike a deal that prevents Iran from developing its programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.