A child died and 14 others were injured after an explosion struck a residential building on Saturday, the 31st, in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The blast occurred a day before an Iranian naval exercise planned in the Strait of Hormuz, the passage of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of all the world’s traded oil passes.
The United States military had already warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where Bandar Abbas is located. Iranian state television cited a local fire department official who attributed the explosion to a gas leak.
Another explosion, also attributed to a gas leak in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, killed five people, according to state media.
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The explosions occurred amid a buildup in tensions between Iran and the United States. The American president, Donald Trump, threatened to launch a military attack on the country in response to the killing of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of citizens detained in recent Iranian demonstrations.
Ali Larijani, a security official in Iran, wrote on the social network X that “the structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.” However, there is no public sign of talks with the United States, which has repeatedly been ruled out by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Source: Associated Press
*Content translated with the aid of Artificial Intelligence, reviewed and edited by the Broadcast Desk, the real-time news system of Grupo Estado
