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An explosion of unknown origin tore through Iran’s most advanced container port on Saturday, triggering a major fire, killing eight people and injuring hundreds, state media said.Around 10 hours after the blast at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, state TV reported the fire had intensified.With choking smoke spreading throughout the area, all schools and offices 23 kilometres (14 miles) away in Bandar Abbas, the Hormozgan provincial capital, have been ordered closed on Sunday, state TV said, to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort.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.”The intensity of the fire in Shahid Rajaee Port has increased and it is possible that the fire could spread to other areas and containers”, state TV said late Saturday.Strong winds were complicating efforts to extinguish the flames, a reporter for the broadcaster said.Shahid Rajaee is the country’s largest commercial port, located near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of world oil output passes.Images from the official IRNA news agency showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast.Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers.Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres”, while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations.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”.He said Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni would go to the area to look into the incident.Speaking later at the scene, Momeni told state TV: “This incident has left eight people dead and 750 injured. All resources from other cities and Tehran have been dispatched… and we hope to be able to extinguish the fire in the coming hours.”In a video posted to social media, which AFP was not able to verify, a man filming the disaster said “my truck was completely destroyed and my friend died”. A dead body can be seen on the ground.Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with employees. Three Chinese nationals were “lightly injured”, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran, is Iran’s most advanced container port, according to IRNA.- 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”.The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported.”The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim news agency reported.The United Arab Emirates expressed “solidarity with Iran” over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences.The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that the explosion “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 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. Both sides reported progress.

The United States and Iran reported progress in their latest round of nuclear talks on Saturday and agreed to meet again next week as they pursue a deal that could help ease soaring Middle East tensions.A US official called the talks “positive and productive”, and Iran’s top diplomat said the two sides will study how to narrow their differences on a range of subjects before next week’s fourth round.The highest-level contact in years between the long-time foes is targeting a new deal that would stop Iran developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from sanctions.”There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the senior US official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the next talks would be in Europe.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Saturday’s talks, which included technical-level teams for the first time, “serious and businesslike”.”There are differences both in the major issues and in the details,” he told Iranian state TV.”Until the next meeting, further studies are to be conducted in the capitals on how to reduce the differences.”Araghchi added: “I think our progress has been good so far. I am satisfied with the process of the negotiation and its speed. I think it is proceeding well and satisfactorily.”US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier, multilateral agreement during his first term. The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Iran with military strikes.- ‘Minute details’ -US special envoy Steve Witkoff again led the American delegation while Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, headed the US expert-level negotiators.Deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi led Tehran’s technical team, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.The delegations were in separate rooms and communicated in writing via the hosts, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei and Araghchi said.”The expert and technical talks… reached the stage of minute details about mutual demands and expectations,” an Iranian state TV reporter said.Iran’s defence and missile capabilities were not discussed, Baqaei told state TV, while an Iranian negotiator said the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”, according to Tasnim.Araghchi had 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”.The talks coincided with a major blast at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, state media reported.The port’s customs office said it probably resulted from a fire in a storage depot.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 ago and continued in Rome last Saturday.- Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ -They are the most senior engagement between the traditional enemies 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.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.Iran currently enriches uranium 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 last year revived engagement with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.Last week, US Secretary of State Marco 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 it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.

Syria’s Kurdish parties on Saturday adopted a joint political vision calling for a “decentralised democratic” state in Syria with guarantees for Kurdish rights.Their statement came at the end of a conference held in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, where a top Kurdish official disputed suggestions that the meeting sought division following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.Syria’s new Islamist-led rulers seek to establish government control over the entire country since they ousted Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.Marginalised and repressed during decades of Assad family rule, Kurdish-led forces took advantage of the civil war to establish de facto autonomy in the north and northeast.Syria’s new government vision puts into question the status of that authority.Mohamad Ismail, a high-ranking official in the Kurdish National Council, announced at the close of the conference the “joint Kurdish political vision, expressing a collective will and a realistic project for a fair solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria, as a decentralised democratic state”.The statement, closing the “Unity of the Kurdish Position and Ranks” conference, said the vision “ensures constitutional rights for the Kurdish people, adheres to international human rights treaties, preserves women’s freedom and rights”.The statement also called for the vision to be “a basis for national dialogue” between Kurdish forces and the new administration in Damascus.More than 400 people, including representatives from major Kurdish parties in Syria, Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdistan region took part in the conference, according to the Kurdish Anha news agency.Among the delegates were the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) as well as groups opposed to it.- ‘Unity of Syria’ -Last month, Syria’s presidency announced an agreement to integrate the institutions of the autonomous Kurdish administration into the national government.But that agreement has not prevented the Kurdish authorities from criticising Syria’s new authorities.The Kurdish-led administration rejected a new national government formed last month, saying it does not reflect the country’s diversity. They levelled a similar criticism against last month’s constitutional declaration that concentrated executive power in the hands of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa during a transition period.Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish administration’s de facto army, said at the conference that “my message to all Syrian constituents and the Damascus government is that the conference does not aim, as some say, at division”. It was being held, he added, “for the unity of Syria”.The US-backed SDF played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State group, which was defeated in its last Syrian territorial stronghold in 2019.”We support all Syrian components receiving their rights in the constitution to be able to build a decentralised democratic Syria that embraces everyone,” Abdi said.In a post shared on social media platform X, AANES official Bedran Ciya Kurd said the conference marked a “historic moment” that will allow Kurds to “play a leading role in the radical democratic transformations in Syria”.”This blessed step should be a source of hope, optimism, and relief for all Syrians for their unity and strength, not a reason for reservation or fear,” he added.Most of the country’s oil and gas fields are in areas administered by the Kurdish authorities. These may prove a crucial resource for Syria’s new authorities as they seek to rebuild the impoverished, war-devastated country.

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.