A powerful explosion rocked the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas earl Ty on Saturday. The blast occurred in an eight-story building, with parts of the lower floors severely damaged and windows throughout the building shattered.
Hormozgan’s Crisis Management Organisation, noting that investigations into the cause of the Bandar Abbas incident are ongoing, said that following the explosion in a residential complex, 14 people were injured and, tragically, a 4-year-old girl lost her life.
Some unofficial sources have claimed that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC Navy, was the target of the incident. Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has denied these rumours as “completely false”. Meanwhile, Israel denied any involvement, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Some domestic sources have attributed the incident to a gas leak, while local reports state that the building was not equipped with gas piping.
This comes as the IRGC announced plans to hold a naval drill in the Persian Gulf later this week, a move that prompted a response from US Central Command (CENTCOM), which urged the IRGC to avoid provocative behaviour at sea.
However, Al Mayadeen TV, a network close to Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran, reported on Saturday afternoon that the planned joint military exercise involving Iran, China, and Russia in the Strait of Hormuz has been called off, and that China and Russia will not be deploying any naval forces to the region, at least not until mid-February. In the meantime Trump said the Iranian leadership is ready to ‘make a deal.’
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