Seven ships catch fire in Iran’s Bushehr port, agency says

(Reuters) – At least seven ships caught fire in Iran’s Bushehr port, the Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday, in what appears to be the latest in a series of fires and explosions across the country, some of which have affected sensitive sites.

No victims have been reported, the agency said.

In a photograph of the incident released by the official IRNA news agency, columns of dense black smoke appeared in the air. State broadcaster IRIB showed fighters tackling smoke clouds at a shipyard in the southern Gulf port.

There have been several explosions and fires around Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities since the end of June, including a fire at Natanz’s underground nuclear facilities in Iran on July 2.

Natanz is the centerpiece of Iran’s enrichment program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) believe it had a coordinated and clandestine nuclear weapons program that it stopped in 2003. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran’s top security body said on July 3 that the cause of the Natanz fire had been determined, but that it would be announced later. Some Iranian officials have said it could have been cyber sabotage, and one of them warned that Tehran would retaliate against any country that carried out such attacks.

In an article published in early July, the state news agency IRNA addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies like Israel and the United States, although it did not directly charge them.

Israel’s defense minister said on July 5 that his country was not “necessarily” behind every mysterious incident in Iran.

On June 30, 19 people died in an explosion at a medical clinic in the north of the capital, Tehran, which an official said was caused by a gas leak.

On June 26, an explosion occurred in eastern Tehran, near the Parchin Arms and Military Development Base, which authorities say was caused by a leak from a gas storage facility in an area outside the base. .