The explosion, which hit the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, but there was no indication of a link between the two events.
Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Iran’s crisis management organisation, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee.
“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he told Iran’s ILNA news agency.
“Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari said.
However, an Iranian government spokesperson said that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation of the incident and sent to the site his interior minister.
Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast, and an office building with its doors blown off and papers and debris strewn around.
Located near the strategic Strait of Hormoz, Shahid Rajaee port is Iran’s biggest container hub, handling a majority of the country’s container goods, according to state media.
The blast shattered windows within a radius of several kilometres and was heard in Qeshm, an island 26 kilometres south of the port, Iranian media said. (Reuters)
