A massive explosion in the Shahid Rajee port killed at least 5 people and injured more than 700 people on Saturday..
This explosion is seemingly linked to chemicals stored inside containers in the port.. BBC has quoted Ambrey Intelligence, a global maritime risk firm, stating that the fire resulted from “improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles”..
While an Iranian government spokesman said that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason, news reports are quoting Hossein Zafari, a crisis management spokesperson, as indicating that the incident points to the poor storage conditions of chemicals as the trigger for the port explosion..
“The cause of the explosions was the chemicals inside the containers,” Hossein Zafari, has reportedly told Iran’s ILNA news agency, adding that the port administration had previously been warned about the danger these chemicals posed..
Shahid Rajaee Port is located on the northern edge of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global waterway handling 20% of the world’s oil trade daily. Situated near the Khuran (Clarence) Strait, it lies between mainland Iran and Qeshm Island and falls under Bandar Abbas County in Hormozgan Province..
The port is part of a major trade route connecting the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, Russia, and Northern Europe.. This strategic position helps Iran maintain global trade links, even under international sanctions..
All port operations have been suspended till the emergency response teams have completed their work and the fire has been evacuated..
Reuters has reported that a series of deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, including refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coal mine, and an emergency repairs incident at Bandar Abbas, most of which have been blamed on negligence..
Iran has also reportedly blamed some of the incidents on Israel, including a Feb 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines and a 2020 cyberattack on computers at Shahid Rajaee, which The Washington Post attributed to Israel appeared as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack..
If the cause of this incident was indeed misdeclared or incorrectly stored hazardous goods, it highlights the vulnerabilities surrounding the carriage of these goods without proper processes being followed..
