Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday visited victims of the Shaheed Ali Rajai port in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas over the killing of 40 persons and the injuring of 1,200 others following multiple explosions that started on Saturday morning at the Port, with the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian refusing to make any accusation or give account of the possible cause of the fire explosions that have continued to rage unabated as at late hours on Sunday, with Israeli Government also keeping mum despite several unsubstantiated claims pointing accusing fingers to the state of Israel over the fire explosions believed to have been ignited due to the presence of chemical substance apparently used in making missile propellants. 

Eyewitness accounts and video indicate chemicals in an area of shipping containers caught fire, setting off a much larger explosion. The death toll has spiked to 40, with 1,200 others reported injured, according to local media.

It was gathered that a secondary explosion occurred on Sunday at the Shaheed Ali Rajai port in Iran and fire broke out.

Pictures made available by Iranian authorities, the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian could be seen on an aerial tour above the ground level seeing the aftermath of the explosion area in the port of Bandar Abbas.

The President also visited the victims of the explosions at the hospital, as he was seen in the video sympathizing with some of the victims on the hospital beds.

One of the Iranian Members of Parliament accused Israel of the explosion at Bandar Abbas port.

Mohammad Saraj, Iranian Member of Parliament, reacting on the explosion at Bandar Abbas port stated that:

“The explosion at Bandar Abbas port was not accidental. There are clear signs of Israeli involvement.

The explosions occurred simultaneously in four different locations. This indicates the placement of explosives inside the containers.

Flammable chemicals usually ignite in a single spot and do not cause multiple simultaneous explosions in different places.

The containers were ‘tampered with’ in the country of origin, during transport, or by local agents in Iran.

The explosions were likely triggered via satellite or timers and timed to occur when the containers arrived at the port to cause maximum damage.”

As on Sunday, Russia President, Vladimir Putin had reportedly sent several firefighters emergency planes to Iran to help quench the raging fire.

Helicopters and planes could be seen dumping water from the air on the raging fire, which started at the Shahid Rajaei port just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The explosion originated in a container at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, according to the state media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Black smoke rises in the sky as vehicles drive on the road after the massive explosion rocked the port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas and video posted on social media shows damaged buildings filled with smoke.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, said Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, a crisis management official in the area.

According to Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim, the explosion was caused by a fuel tank detonating. However, Iran’s state oil company denied that the explosion originated from its oil facilities, stating that the oil plant, storage tanks, and pipelines in the vicinity were unaffected and operational as usual.

Following the blast, photos surfaced online showing windows shattered up to several kilometers away from the port, with a mushroom cloud forming over the area.

The Shahid Raja’i Port is Iran’s primary container terminal, handling approximately 80 million tons of goods annually.

It also hosts oil tankers and chemical plants, and its strategic location in the Strait of Hormuz is critical, as it accounts for about 20% of the world’s crude oil shipments, according to local media.

Reuters also reported that cyber attacks on the port’s computer systems led to widespread power outages, with US media outlets speculating that Israel, a longtime adversary of Iran, may have been behind the cyber attack.