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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Port Explosion: Israel Silent, Iranians Thirsty for Revenge |
| 2025-04-29 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov [REGNUM] On April 26, a major emergency occurred in the key and largest Iranian port of Shahid Rajaei, located near the city of Bandar Abbas. The explosion of several containers in the berthing area caused a large-scale fire and paralyzed the work of the country's main trade and transport artery for almost a day. And although the Iranian authorities dismiss the "spy trail" version, attributing the incident to human error, many citizens of the country think otherwise. Largely because the forces hostile to Tehran ended up benefiting from the incident. MANY VICTIMS According to the official version, the cause of the disaster was the explosion of several containers in the berth area, which occurred due to “violations of storage conditions” for hazardous cargo. The explosion was so powerful that the shock wave blew out windows within a radius of at least three kilometers, and echoes were heard within a radius of 26 to 50 kilometers. One building was critically damaged and collapsed. At least 25 people are known to have died, and more than a thousand people were injured to varying degrees. A fire broke out at the site of the explosion, and it has been underway for several days now. Rescue teams and special equipment from Russia have arrived to help Tehran. STRANGE COINCIDENCES Part of Iranian society did not believe in the man-made nature of the disaster due to the large number of strange coincidences. Firstly, the emergency occurred on the very day of Iranian-American talks in Oman, where the issue of easing economic sanctions and “opening” southern Iranian ports, one of which is Shahid Rajaee, was discussed. They were supposed to be used to expand public supplies of Iranian petroleum products to world markets. A hypothetical attack on the port's oil infrastructure could easily negate the gains Iran made in the negotiations. Secondly, there are Iranian military facilities located a short distance from the damaged port. For example, a naval base on Qeshm Island, several closed terminals and guarded warehouses, as well as an “underground city” declassified in January 2025, where part of the republic’s fleet is based. Shahid Rajaee could well have played the role of a transit point for the transportation of certain types of products for the military. Western tabloids also made a major contribution to promoting the thesis about some military cargo damaged as a result of the explosion. They vied with each other in writing that the cause of the explosion was improper storage of sodium perchlorate, one of the components for the production of rocket fuel. In addition, Iranian hawks drew parallels with a similar disaster in 2020 in Lebanon, when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate confiscated by the authorities exploded in the port of Beirut. At least 200 people died then, and the seaside districts of the capital were partially destroyed by the blast wave. Lebanon has still not been able to recover from the consequences of the emergency, both politically and economically. As Iranian MP Mohammad Saraj noted, the involvement of Israeli agents in planting the explosives is "highly probable." The detonation, according to his data, occurred simultaneously in four different points, which led to the maximum one-time damage from the explosion. However, Saraj's opinion has not yet received much support among the Iranian establishment. The version of criminal negligence is promoted and supported not only by the liberal wing, but also by the conservative heavyweights led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian leadership prefers to wait for the results of the investigation and is now focused on eliminating the consequences of the disaster. ISRAEL SHOWS 'MODESTY' The Israeli side, contrary to expectations, is in no hurry to take credit for the incident in the Iranian port, unlike other high-profile actions, when intelligence publicly reported on success in the first hours, even if its trace was not obvious. The reason for such “modesty” is simple: news of an attack on a civilian port (even if dual-use goods were being shipped through it) will not bring big dividends to the Israeli government. But it will give Tehran additional reasons to justify the retaliatory operation “True Promise 3”. Among other things, the hypothetical inclusion of “civilian shahids” in the list for revenge will untie Iran’s hands and allow it to position a new strike on Israeli territory as a legitimate act of protecting its own population. DAMAGE TO TRADE Official Tehran is trying its best to emphasize that, given the horrific scale of the disaster at the port, the damage from it was “minimal of all possible.” However, the authorities are being somewhat disingenuous here. Shahid Rajaee accounts for more than 80% of the country's container traffic, as well as more than half of its oil and gas shipments. Over the past five years, it has emerged as the country's key logistics and trade hub, with most of its import and export lines terminating at its gateway. Even taking into account the fact that the petrochemical infrastructure located in the port was almost not damaged, and most of the services employed at the port resumed work the next day after the incident, the forced downtime caused damage to the Iranian economy in the amount of several tens of billions of dollars. It also temporarily disrupted Iran's established trade chains, both public and secret. As long as the port is the focus of increased attention from the world community, it will be problematic to conduct shadow deliveries through it. In this regard, Tehran will most likely have to shift “non-public” flows for some time towards other suitable ports – Khorramshahr and Bandar-e-Mahshahr. However, they have much more modest infrastructure and are not designed to handle the same traffic as the country's main port. Shipments to Iran will remain below normal until the Shahid Rajaee berth is fully restored. This means that the disaster at the port, even if it was not the work of Iran's opponents, ultimately played into their hands. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #3 Chaharshanbe Suri come early this year. |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-04-29 10:24 |
| #2 "Fireworks", just like Beirut |
| Posted by: Frank G 2025-04-29 10:21 |
| #1 Fireworks manufacturing warehouse reportedly explodes in Iran |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-04-29 07:38 |