Explosion reported at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city, damages 8-storey residential building – Firstpost

An explosion struck an eight-storey building in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, state media reported, with authorities saying the cause of the blast remains under investigation.

Iranian state television said the explosion destroyed two floors of the building on Moallem Boulevard, damaging several vehicles and nearby shops. Rescue and firefighting teams were deployed to the site, and the injured were shifted to hospitals. No fatalities were immediately reported.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Hormozgan province crisis management chief Mehrdad Hassanzadeh as saying investigations were underway to determine the cause of the explosion.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency dismissed social media claims that a Revolutionary Guard naval commander had been targeted, calling the reports “completely false”.

Images aired on state television showed the building’s facade blown out, exposing parts of its interior, with debris scattered across the area. Other Iranian media carried similar accounts but provided no details on what triggered the blast.

Bandar Abbas lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime route through which about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US, following a major crackdown on nationwide protests triggered by economic hardship and against the backdrop of ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Earlier on Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US, Israel and European countries of exploiting Iran’s economic difficulties and fuelling unrest. The blast also comes as the US has deployed an aircraft carrier group to the region after strong rhetoric from President Donald Trump, who recently said an “armada” was heading towards Iran.