Russia sends help to Iran after deadly port explosion

Vladimir Putin was one of the first world leaders to offer help to Iran in the aftermath of a massive explosion at a container depot in a key port near the strait of Hormuz, dispatching several emergency planes to the area.

Fires still blazed nearly 24 hours after the explosion at the giant Shahid Rajaee port in southern Iran, the nation’s most strategically important port and chief artery for its world trade. The death toll had risen to at least 28 and the numbers injured had risen to more than 1,000.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, flew to Bandar Abbas, a city 20 miles to the west of the port in Hormozgan province, to be briefed on the investigation and rescue operation.

With choking smoke and air pollution spreading across the area, schools and offices in Bandar Abbaswere ordered closed on Sunday, state TV reported. The health ministry urged residents to avoid going outside until further notice and to use protective masks.

Early indications were that the explosion appears to have been an accident rather than a deliberate attack. The Tehran prosecutor’s office said it had filed charges against a variety of media outlets of different political persuasions, a reflection of officials’ concern at speculation that the explosion was an act of terror or due to mistakes by the army.

CCTV footage circulating on Iranian media showed a localised fire starting five minutes after midday in a single container and then spreading rapidly to other containers, and port workers starting to run away. A vast explosion then occurs within two minutes, knocking out the camera.

CCTV image of people running from a fire at the port. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters

The interior ministry launched an inquiry. No official explanation has been given for the explosion yet but there were growing reports that the storage of chemicals in containers in high temperatures may have been to blame.

Evidence of previous, smaller incidents was being cited, as well as claims that much of the regime surrounding health and safety protocols, especially concerning the inspection of chemical storage, had been contracted out.

The Kremlin website said Putin had conveyed his “words of sincere sympathy and support to the families of the victims as well as his wishes for a recovery to all those injured”. Russia dispatched planes carrying specialist firefighters.

The explosion happened just as a third round of talks between the US and Iran started, designed to lead to fresh controls being placed on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of US sanctions.

The Iranian foreign ministry described the talks, mediated by Oman and held in Muscat, as serious, practical and more detailed than those previously. Another round of talks is due to be held in a week’s time.