As relief workers tried to put out fires, the port’s customs officials said trucks were being evacuated from the area and that the container yard where the explosion occurred likely contained “dangerous goods and chemicals”. Activities at the port were halted after the blast, officials said. DEADLY INCIDENTS A series of deadly incidents has hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, with many, like Saturday’s blast, blamed on negligence. They have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coal mine, and an emergency repair incident at Bandar Abbas that killed one worker in 2023. Iran has blamed some other incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear programme in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defences. Tehran said Israel was behind a February 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, while in 2020 computers at Shahid Rajaee were hit by a cyberattack. The Washington Post reported that Israel appeared to be behind that incident as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack. Israel has indicated it is nervous about the outcome of US-Iran talks, demanding a full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran says the programme is used solely for peaceful purposes, while international observers say it is getting closer to being able to build a bomb. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office when asked for comment on whether Israel was in any way involved yesterday’s explosion. Oil facilities were not affected by the blast yesterday, Iranian authorities said. The National Iranian Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company said in a statement it had “no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes and oil pipelines.”