ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several explosions rocked Iran on Saturday, killing at least five people in a coastal city in southern Iran and in a provincial capital in the southwest, according to Iranian media.
An explosion tore through a residential building in the Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, killing a 4-year-old girl and injuring 14 others, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hormozgan province crisis management director Mehrdad Hassanzadeh as saying.
The Bandar Abbas port city sits strategically on the southwestern coast of Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, 200 kilometers from Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The Bandar Abbas explosion and a blast that killed four people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz 170 kilometers from the Iraqi border were both caused by gas leaks, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, citing local officials.
The Ahvaz explosion “was not the result of sabotage or a security issue," Mehr news quoted Mehr Valiollah Hayati, deputy head of security and law enforcement at the provincial Khuzestan governor’s office as saying.
The news agency also refuted claims that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri was killed in the Bandar Abbas explosion.
Video footage posted on X by the semi-official Tehran Times also showed a fire in a field in Parand 60 kilometers outside of the capital, Tehran.
Iran on Friday announced it would conduct two days of live-fire naval drills beginning Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route, amid a US buildup of destroyers and fighter jets heeded toward Iran amid escalating tensions between Iran and Washington. President Donald Trump has weighed striking Iran if Tehran fails to reach a nuclear agreement with the US.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement on Friday warning Iran to conduct the exercises “in a manner that is safe, professional and avoids unnecessary risk to freedom of navigation for international maritime traffic.” CENTCOM said it would “not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions” near US military positions.
While Iran has said it is open to negotiations, the country’s top military commander Amir Hatami warned on Saturday that its nuclear technology “cannot be eliminated” and threatened US, regional and Israeli security if the US launched strikes.
The US has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the Middle East, including in the Kurdistan Region and in Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said last week they would not allow strikes on Iran to be conducted from their territory.
The news also came as Iranian news agencies reported that Iran, Russia and China will hold joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean in mid-February.
Iran has also grappled with weeks of protests demanding government reforms that have killed over 6,500 people, with another 17,000 deaths under investigation, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported Friday.
Updated at 7:43 pm
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