President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran has visited hospitalized survivors of a huge explosion that rocked one of the country’s main ports, killing at least 40 people and injuring about 1,000 others.
The visit on Sunday followed a massive blast the day before at the Shahid Rajaee port outside of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province
Arriving at the site, Pezeshkian thanked first responders, announcing, “We have come to see first hand if there is anything or any issue that the government can follow up on.”
“We will try to take care of the families who lost their loved ones, and we will definitely take care of the dear people who got injured,” he said.
Later Sunday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “security and judicial officials are obliged to thoroughly investigate, uncover any negligence or intent’’.
The facility has been purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant.
But Iranian Defence Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik told state TV that “there has been no imported or exported cargo for military fuel or military use in the area”
The port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state television that the explosion probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.
