A powerful explosion rocked the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, with the blast occurring in an eight-story building where parts of the lower floors were severely damaged and windows throughout the building shattered. Following the explosion in a residential complex, 14 people were injured and a 4-year-old girl lost her life. According to a preliminary assessment, the explosion was caused by a gas leak.
The blast sparked wild speculation online about whether a military target had been hit, but the semi-official Tasnim news agency said social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander had been targeted were "completely false." Two Israeli officials told Reuters that Israel was not involved in Saturday's blasts. Bandar Abbas, home to Iran's most important container port, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman that handles about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.
The explosion happened at a particularly tense moment in US-Iran relations. Tensions have been rising for weeks between Tehran and Washington amid Trump's repeated threats to attack Iran, with a "massive armada" led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier moving towards Iran and ready to use "violence, if necessary" if Iranian leaders do not agree to negotiate a nuclear deal. The tensions stem from nationwide protests that began in late December 2025 over the country's worsening economic conditions, which escalated into a broader challenge to the country's clerical leadership.
The Iranian army announced it had added 1,000 new "strategic" drones to its forces, including one-way attack drones and combat, reconnaissance and cyber-capable systems designed to strike fixed or mobile targets on land, in the air and at sea. Meanwhile, senior officials in Tehran have said they are open to negotiations, but only once Trump ends his military threats against the country, and they have stressed that Iran's armed forces are ready to respond if attacked. The blast happened a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.