CNN
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Iranian authorities did not cause the massive explosion at Bandar Abbas port on Saturday, killing at least 28 people, but video footage and unidentified reports indicate the possible presence of the chemical used to make propellant for the missile.
Eyewitness accounts and videos show that chemicals in the area of the transport container cause fires and causes much larger explosions. After the incident, deaths skyrocketed, reporting 800 other people injured.
One surveillance video distributed by Fars News Agency shows a small fire between containers, with many workers moving away from the scene.
CNN previously reported that hundreds of tons of critical chemicals to fuel Iran’s ballistic missile program arrived at the port in February. Another shipment is reported to have arrived in March.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted officials saying it said it said it didn’t identify the chemical, although it was likely that the explosion would be caused by a container of chemicals. The agency said late Saturday that Iran’s customs agency had blamed the explosion on “stockpiling of dangerous goods and chemicals stored in port areas.”

Iran’s national oil company said the explosion at the port “has nothing to do with refineries, fuel tanks or oil pipelines.”
Iranian officials denied that military materials were held at the port. Ebrahim Rezai, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in a post on Sunday X, that the explosion “has nothing to do with Iran’s defense sector.”
According to state media, Iranian President Masuud Pezeshkian arrived in Bandar Abbas on Sunday afternoon to investigate the situation and oversee the relief efforts. The president also met those injured in the explosion yesterday.
The explosion comes at a time of ongoing talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear program, with high tensions in the Middle East, but senior Iranians have not suggested that the explosion is an attack.
Some of the scene’s videos and images have been geolocated by CNN, with orange brown smoke rising from some of the ports where containers are stacked. Such colours suggest that chemicals such as sodium and ammonia were involved.
Iran’s state media said it contained 80%, but the fire at the port was still burning on Sunday.
“With connections with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Security Forces Corps, it said that the explosion was sodium perchlorate, a major component of the missile’s solid fuel. People spoke about security issues on condition of anonymity.”
CNN is unable to see what was stored in the area at the time of the explosion, and it is unclear why such chemicals are kept in ports for a long time.

In February, CNN reported that the first of the two vessels carrying 1,000 tonnes of Chinese-made chemicals, which could become a key component of the fuel in Iran’s military missile program, was secured outside the Bandar Abbas.
Two European intelligence sources who spoke to CNN said the ship loaded a Chinese port in January with a large portion of 1,000 tonnes of sodium perchlorate in January.
According to intelligence sources, sodium perchlorate can allow for the production of sufficient propellant for about 260 solid rocket motors for Iranian Cabal Shekan missiles or Haji Kasem ballistic missiles.
“China consistently adheres to dual-use export restrictions in accordance with international obligations and domestic laws and regulations,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry told CNN in February.