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A powerful explosion ripped through a key port in southern Iran on Saturday, killing four people and injuring more than 500, state media said.Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.State media reported a “massive explosion” at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on the southern coast.Footage on state TV showed thick columns of black smoke billowing from the port where many containers are stored, with helicopters deployed to fight the flames.Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that at least 516 people were injured and “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres”.”Unfortunately, at least four deaths have been confirmed by rescuers,” the head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, Babak Mahmoudi, later told the broadcaster.Three Chinese nationals were “lightly injured”, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes”, sending Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to look into the incident.Images from the official IRNA news agency showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris.Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car.Containers stacked at the port appeared to have buckled in the blast.Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Tehran, is Iran’s most advanced container port, according to IRNA.It is located 23 kilometres west of Bandar Abbas, the Hormozgan provincial capital, and near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.- Containers exploded -Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the province’s crisis management authority, told state TV that “the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area”.”We are currently evacuating and transporting the injured to nearby medical centres,” he said.The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported, with residents saying they could feel the ground shake even at a distance.”The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim news agency reported.The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that “the explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines”.It added that “Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption”.The rare explosion comes several months after one of Iran’s deadliest work accidents in years.The coal mine blast in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people at Tabas in the east of the country.Saturday’s explosion also came as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

A powerful explosion ripped through a key port in southern Iran on Saturday, killing four people and injuring more than 500, state media said.Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the customs office at the port said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.State media reported a “massive explosion” at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast.Footage broadcast on state TV showed thick columns of black smoke billowing from the port area, where many containers are stored, with helicopters deployed to fight the fire.Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that at least 516 people were injured and “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres”.”Unfortunately, at least four deaths have been confirmed by rescuers,” the head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, Babak Mahmoudi, later told the broadcaster.State TV had quoted Esmaeil Malekizadeh, a regional port official, as saying authorities were working to put out a fire at the facility.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes”, dispatching Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to the area to look into the incident.Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of the capital Tehran, is the most advanced container port in Iran, according to the official IRNA news agency.It is located 23 kilometres west of Bandar Abbas, the Hormozgan provincial capital, and north of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.- Containers exploded -Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of Hormozgan province’s crisis management authority, told state TV that “the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area”.”We are currently evacuating and transporting the injured to nearby medical centres,” he said.The explosion was so powerful that it could be felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported, with residents saying they could feel the ground shake even at a distance.”The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim news agency reported.The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that “the explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines”.It added that “Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption”.The rare explosion comes several months after one of Iran’s deadliest work accidents in years.The coal mine blast in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people in Tabas in Iran’s east.Saturday’s explosion also came as delegations from Iran and the United States were meeting in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The United States and Iran started discussing details of a potential nuclear deal in Oman Saturday as they held their third round of talks in as many weeks.US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are again leading the talks, which this time include a technical-level meeting between experts from both sides.The discussions are aimed at striking a new deal that would stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from crippling sanctions.US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier multilateral nuclear deal during his first term in office.Saturday’s talks were taking place in a “serious atmosphere”, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the Tasnim news agency.Iran’s defence and missile capabilities were not on the agenda, Baqaei said separately to state TV, while an Iranian negotiator told Tasnim that the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”.Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, leads the US expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.The talks started at around 10am (0600 GMT) with the delegations in separate rooms and communicating via the hosts, Baqaei said in a statement.Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the talks may extend beyond Saturday, “given that the negotiations have entered technical and expert-level discussions and the examination of details”.Araghchi earlier expressed “cautious optimism”, saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems”, he added.The talks coincided with a major blast from unknown causes at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, according to state media.- Trump would ‘prefer deal’ -Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through.But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”. The talks began in Muscat a fortnight a go and continued in Rome last Saturday.They are the highest-level engagement between the long-time foes since 2018, when Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 accord that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.Since returning to office, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.Western nations, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.Tehran has consistently denied the charge, maintaining that its nuclear programme is strictly for peaceful purposes.On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.The Washington-based think tank also noted construction of a new security perimeter.- ‘Non-negotiable’ right -In an interview released Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s firm stance against Iran’s uranium enrichment.”If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one: and that is they import enriched material,” he said on the Honestly podcast.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.Tehran recently sought to reopen dialogue with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.Last week, Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to use the mechanism expires in October.Iran has warned that it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.

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The United States and Iran were to hold a fresh round of technical and high-level nuclear negotiations in Oman on Saturday, after both sides reported progress in previous meetings.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, leading Tehran’s delegation, arrived in Muscat on Friday ahead of the mediated talks, with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff expected to head the American side.The technical talks will come first, followed by the high-level negotiations.Araghchi expressed “cautious optimism” about the process this week, saying that “if the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems”, he added.US President Donald Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through, but also suggested he was optimistic about an agreement, saying he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”.Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, will lead Washington’s expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.Iranian state television reported from Muscat that the meetings were expected to begin around 0830 GMT, without specifying which session it was referring to.Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Friday that the new talks, like the previous rounds in Muscat and Rome the past two Saturdays, would be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.Baqaei wrote on X that Iran’s delegation aimed to secure its “lawful right to use nuclear energy… while taking reasonable steps to demonstrate that our programme is entirely peaceful”.The “speedy” termination of sanctions is also “a priority”, he added.The recent negotiations are the highest-level engagement between the long-time foes since Trump withdrew during his first term from a landmark 2015 nuclear accord that offered Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.- ‘Hostile’ sanctions -Since returning to office in January, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.Western nations, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.Iran maintains its nuclear programme is strictly for peaceful purposes.On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.The Washington-based think-tank also noted construction of a new security perimeter.”We’re asking them, what is this for? They are telling us, it’s none of your business,” Grossi told reporters.Tehran had no immediate comment.- ‘Non-negotiable’ right -In an interview released Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s firm stance against Iran’s uranium enrichment.”If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one: and that is they import enriched material,” he said on the Honestly podcast.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.A commentary in Iran’s conservative Kayhan daily on Saturday said: “By repeating the tone of threats and denying the right to enrichment, Trump and his Secretary of State have shown that what Washington is after is ‘Iran’s surrender’ and not an ‘equal agreement.'”Araghchi said in the text of a speech posted to X earlier this week that Iran was looking “to build at least 19 more reactors”.Tehran has recently sought to reopen dialogue with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.On Thursday, Araghchi said he was willing to visit the European countries for talks.Last week, Rubio urged them to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to use the mechanism expires in October.Iran has warned that it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.