Iranian MP Mohammad Siraj claims that the massive explosion at Bandar Abbas was a deliberate act of sabotage. Siraj told Rokna News Agency that “Israel was involved in the explosion. It was not accidental. Clear evidence points to Israeli involvement.”
The MP claimed the blast—which killed at least 70 people and left 1,200 more severely injured—was caused by explosives pre-planted in shipping containers, that were remotely detonated by either satellite or timer.
Siraj explained that the explosions occurred simultaneously at four different locations, a theory that seems to be supported by aerial photos that show fires breaking out at least three separate locations.
Siraj also claimed that the planting of the explosives may have involved Iranian operatives assisting Israel.
The Iranian MP was unable to provide any hard evidence to support his allegations, and his interview was later removed from the Rokna website.
Even so, the incident at Bandar Abbas is not only familiar (Re: The 2020 Beirut port explosion) but also appears to have been strategically timed to coincide with the Third Round of the US-Iran nuclear talks in Oman.
Sudden Impact 30 seconds
Also, Israeli PM Netanyahu has made it quite clear that he does not want to see the peace talks progress unless Iran is stripped of its defensive ballistic missiles and further isolated in the region. Given his support for a ‘military solution’, it is conceivable that Israel may have had a hand in the giant blast that not only killed scores of people but also obliterated a large section of Iran’s biggest container port.
The prevailing narrative in the MSM is that the port was being used to store solid fuel for Iran’s ballistic missiles, the subtle implication being that “missile fuel” is a legitimate target whether those missiles are used in self-defense or not. Here’s a clip from the Times of Israel“:
The New York Times quoted an individual with ties to Iran’s IRGC, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, who said that sodium perchlorate had exploded. The compound is a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.
The port had taken in a shipment of the chemical in March, the private security firm Ambrey said a day earlier. The fuel was part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times.
Iran’s Defense Ministry denied the reports that the blast may have been caused by the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles, with a spokesman telling state TV that the reports were “aligned with enemy psyops,” and that the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.” Times of Israel
Notice how the “missile fuel” allegations are subtly embraced while the claims of the Iranian MP are discarded as speculation. And while we have no insider knowledge that would confirm either theory, we think the media’s bias is apparent.
Naturally, Iranian officials are denying the ‘missile fuel’ claims to avoid any admission that Israeli intelligence have penetrated their ranks and provided them with access to critical military assets. On Sunday, Iranian spokesman Gen. Reza Talaeinik delivered a forceful denial that missile fuel was the source of the blast.
“No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port,” he told state television by telephone. He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless.
There’s been very little additional information on the explosions since the initial flurry of reports. That has not, of course, dampened public interest or lessened the amount of speculation. Without the facts, we cannot say definitively “what” or “what did not” happen, but that should not stop us from speculating on the meaning of an incident that that—in my mind—could reshape the Middle East and the world.
Let’s say, for example, that—for whatever reason—the Iranian government was using Bandar Abbas as a (temporary?) strategic reserve for its ballistic missile solid fuel (what one analyst called) “a vital artery for the regime’s regional proxy wars” as well as its own self-defense. Now those critical reserves have gone up in a poof of smoke and will be unavailable in the event of a US-Israeli attack sometime in May or June. This could, in fact, represent a catastrophic blow to the government and gravely undermine its ability to defend the country from an impending attack. In short, Bandar Abbas could be to Iran what the “exploding beepers” were to Hezbollah. We hope that is not the case, but we fear that it could be.
