TEHRAN/MUSCAT: A powerful explosion ripped through a key port in southern Iran on Saturday, killing five people and injuring more than 700, state media said. Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.

State media reported a “massive explosion” at Shahid Rajaee, the country’s largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on the southern coast. The fires triggered by the explosion were still burning more than seven hours after the blast, which Mehr news agency said happened just before noon local time. A state TV reporter said strong winds were making it hard to extinguish the flames.

HH the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable of condolences to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, expressing his deepest condolences and sincere sympathy over the victims of the explosion. He prayed to Almighty God to bestow His mercy and forgiveness upon the victims and to grant the injured a speedy recovery.

HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah also sent cables of condolences to Pezeshkian. The ministry of foreign affairs also expressed Kuwait’s sympathy and solidarity with Iran following the explosion. The ministry conveyed Kuwait’s sincere condolences to the government and people of Iran, wishing the injured swift recovery.

Images from the official IRNA news agency showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast. Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers. Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centers”, while the provincial blood transfusion center issued a call for donations.

In a video posted to social media, a man filming the disaster says “my truck was completely destroyed and my friend died”, while a dead body can be seen on the ground. Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with workers. Three Chinese nationals were “lightly injured”, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.

Saturday’s explosion also came as the United States and Iran went into detail about a potential nuclear deal at their third consecutive round of talks, hoping to strike an accord that would ease regional tensions. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi again led the talks, which this time included a technical-level meeting between experts from both sides.

The discussions via mediators in Muscat, the Omani capital, lasted more than seven hours, according to Iranian officials and state media. “The expert and technical talks between the two delegations reached the stage of minute details about mutual demands and expectations,” said a state TV reporter.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated the talks, said a fourth round is expected next Saturday. “Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3,” Albusaidi posted on X, adding that “core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed” at the latest meetings in Muscat.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes”, sending Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to look into the incident. Containers stacked at the port appeared to have buckled in the blast. Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 km south of Tehran, is Iran’s most advanced container port, according to IRNA. It is located 23 km west of Bandar Abbas, the Hormozgan provincial capital, and near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the province’s crisis management authority, told state TV that “the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area”. “We are currently evacuating and transporting the injured to nearby medical centers,” he said. The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 km away, Fars news agency reported, with residents saying they could feel the ground shake even at a distance. “The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim news agency reported.

The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that “the explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines”. It added that “Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption”.

The Iran-US discussions are aimed at striking a new deal that would stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons – an objective Tehran denies pursuing – in return for relief from crippling sanctions. The latest talks took place in a “serious atmosphere”, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the Tasnim news agency. Iran’s defense and missile capabilities were not discussed, Baqaei said separately to state TV, while an Iranian negotiator told Tasnim that the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”.

Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, headed the US expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi led Tehran’s, according to Tasnim. The delegations were placed in separate rooms and communicated via the hosts, Baqaei said in a statement.

Araghchi had earlier expressed “cautious optimism”, saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”. But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems”, he added. Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through. But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”. The talks began in Muscat a fortnight ago and continued in Rome last Saturday. – Agencies