President Masoud Pezeshkian traveled to Bandar Abbas on Sunday to inspect the aftermath of a devastating explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port, which caused significant destruction and loss of life the previous day.
During his visit, the President met with injured victims at a local hospital and participated in an emergency session of the provincial crisis management headquarters. The meeting, attended by key ministers and officials, focused on accelerating relief efforts, assessing damages, and restoring operations at the critical port facility.
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, Transport and Urban Development Minister Farzaneh Sadegh, and Red Crescent Society Director Pirhossein Kolivand were among the officials accompanying him.
The explosion, which occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, resulted in at least 28 deaths and over 800 injuries, according to the provincial judiciary. Shahid Rajaee Port, a vital hub located about 15 kilometers southwest of Bandar Abbas on the northern shore of the Strait of Hormuz, suffered extensive damage.
While the exact cause of the blast remains under investigation, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani suggested that containers storing chemicals may have triggered the explosion. In response to the tragedy, the government has declared Monday a national day of mourning.
Expressions of sympathy poured in from around the world. Leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani offered condolences. Messages of solidarity were also sent by the governments of Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Türkiye, Libya, South Korea, Jordan, and others, as well as organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Muslim World League.
Additional condolences came from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Japan’s Ambassador to Tehran Tamaki Tsukada, and several other regional and international leaders.
