By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN (Worthy News) – An explosion likely caused by solid fuel used for ballistic missiles killed at least 14 and injured some 750 people at Iran’s biggest port, Worthy News learned.
Video footage showed that Saturday’s blast sent a huge plume of thick, gray smoke rising from Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, near the southern city of Bandar Abbas.
A private maritime risk firm believed the affected containers contained solid fuel destined for ballistic missiles.
Ambrey Intelligence added that the fire resulted from “improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles.”
Ambrey stressed it was aware that an Iran-flagged ship “discharged a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel at the port in March 2025”.
Tehran seemed to conform that chemicals caused the explosion. A government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, told the media it would take some time to establish the cause, “but so far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals.”
Iran’s Minister of Interior Eskandar Momeni said six people remained missing Saturday as firefighters continued to battle the blaze despite challenges posed by high winds.
BROADER CONCERNS
The blast underscored broader concerns about Iran’s handling of missiles and other weapons as the Islamic Republic is seen as a regional threat by Israel and its allies.
Saturday’s explosion was very powerful, as it reportedly blew out windows and roofs of nearby buildings and destroyed cars. Residents reported feeling the impact of the blast up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) away.
Videos showed a fire growing in intensity before a massive explosion, with people subsequently fleeing the blast and others lying wounded on roads surrounded by smoking debris.
Aerial footage revealed at least three areas ablaze, and Iran’s interior minister later confirmed that the fire was spreading from one container to another.
One official told local media that some workers were “still trapped under collapsed roofs, and we are trying to rescue them.”
As night fell over Iran, many survivors were still awaiting news of loved ones impacted by the explosion.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered an extraordinary 2,700-year-old pottery fragment inscribed with Assyrian cuneiform near the Temple Mount — the first written evidence of direct contact between the Assyrian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah ever discovered in the city. The find, announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), offers striking confirmation of the biblical narrative of King Hezekiah’s resistance to Assyrian domination recorded in II Kings 18.
Iranian officials are warning of imminent water rationing—and even the potential evacuation of Tehran—as the nation faces its worst drought in nearly a century.
A Christian widow in Pakistan’s Punjab province is devastated after her married daughter went missing, while elsewhere in the region, a mother of four and a mother of six have also disappeared following alleged abductions by Muslim men, Worthy News learned Saturday.
South Korea, long seen as the democratic opposite of its authoritarian-ruled northern neighbor, faces growing scrutiny for what critics call a widening crackdown on Christian leaders and churches.
Hungary’s prime minister told U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Friday that it would take a miracle for Ukraine to win the war against Russia. Viktor Orbán made the remarks at the White House, where Trump asked him during a joint news conference about the prospects for Kyiv’s victory.
Hungarian prosecutors have requested a two-year suspended prison sentence for Gábor Iványi, a 76-year-old Methodist pastor, once a close confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and several opposition politicians, in a case widely viewed as politically charged.
In a decision that could reshape federal identification standards, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce its policy requiring Americans to list their biological sex–male or female–on passports, rather than self-identified gender.