(BBC News) At least 28 people have been killed and 800 injured in a massive explosion at one of Iran’s key ports, authorities say.
The blast took place at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, near the southern city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday morning.
It blew out windows and roofs of nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Residents reported feeling the impact of the blast up to 50 km away. Six people remain unaccounted for, state media reports.
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. Schools and offices in the region have been ordered to remain closed on Sunday.
One private maritime risk consultancy 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 added that 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.
