Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni says the ‘culprits have been identified’ and the explosion was caused by ‘negligence’.

Firefighters continue to battle raging fires at Iran’s largest commercial port, Bandar Abbas, two days after a massive explosion killed dozens and injured more than 1,000 people, Iranian state media report, as questions linger as to the blast’s cause.

“The death toll in the Shahid Rajaei Port fire has reached 46,” the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday, quoting Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director for Hormozgan province, where the port is located. Most of the injured had since been released after treatment, he added.

Only “120 wounded are still in hospital”, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, who is visiting the affected area, told state TV on Monday.

The blast took place on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei Port in Iran’s south near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.

Iran’s state TV showed images of firefighters dousing the flames, saying the damage would be assessed after the fire is fully brought under control.

Heavy charcoal-black smoke continued to billow over low flames at part of the site, above which a firefighting helicopter flew, pictures from the Iranian Red Crescent showed.

What caused the blast?

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, but the port’s customs office said it likely resulted from a fire that broke out at a depot storing hazardous chemical materials.

Momeni said on Monday that “culprits have been identified and summoned”, and that the blast was caused by “shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence”.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident.

In the face of external and expert speculation, Iran has denied reports that the blast was caused by a shipment of missile fuel.

National day of mourning declared

On Sunday, President Masoud Pezeshkian visited hospitals treating the wounded in Bandar Abbas. Since the explosion, authorities have ordered all schools and offices in the area closed and urged residents to avoid going outside “until further notice” and use protective masks when doing so.

Authorities declared Monday a national day of mourning, while three days of mourning began on Sunday in Hormozgan province.

The explosion took place as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with both sides reporting progress.

While Iranian authorities so far appear to be treating the explosion as an accident, it also comes against a backdrop of years of shadow war with regional enemy Israel. Iran has in the past accused Israel of being behind such attacks.

According to The Washington Post, Israel launched a cyberattack targeting the Shahid Rajaei Port in 2020.

United States military strikes in Yemen have killed 68 people and wounded 47 as they hit a detention centre holding African migrants, according to Houthi-affiliated media reports.

The strike in the Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold, is the latest incident during a decade of conflict to kill African migrants from Ethiopia and other nations who risk crossing Yemen for a chance to work in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, refused to offer details of the latest strikes but acknowledged carrying out more than 800 hits on targets in Yemen since mid-March. More than 250 people are now reported to have been killed in the campaign.

Graphic footage aired by the Houthis’ Al Masirah TV news channel showed what appeared to be human bodies and injured people at the site. The Houthi-run Ministry of Interior said some 115 migrants had been detained at the site before the strike.

The broadcaster showed footage of bodies stuck under the rubble and of rescuers working to help the casualties.

Each year, tens of thousands of migrants brave the Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa, seeking to escape conflict, natural disasters and poor economic prospects by sailing across the Red Sea towards the oil-rich Gulf region.

Many hope for employment as labourers or domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries, though they face a perilous journey through war-torn Yemen.

The Houthis, who are accused of detaining and abusing the migrants, allegedly earn large sums smuggling them over the border. Those seeking to cross take a significant risk, with the threat of detainment and abuse added to by the long-running conflict.

Attack on capital Sanaa raises death toll to more than 220 people since US strikes on Yemen launched in mid-March.

United States military strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, have killed dozens of people and wounded many more, according to Houthi-affiliated media reports.

The attacks killed at least eight people around the city, while at least 68 died in a strike on a migrant detention centre, Houthi media reported on Monday.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, refused to offer details of the latest strikes but acknowledged carrying out more than 800 attacks on targets in Yemen since mid-March. More than 250 people are now reported to have been killed in the campaign.

The Al Masirah TV satellite news channel reported early on Monday that eight people were killed in a US strike targeting the ​​Bani al-Harith district north of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

The US also struck Yemen’s Amran and Saada governorates on Sunday night, Houthi officials said, and two people were reported killed in an earlier attack on Sanaa.

“Eight martyrs, including children and women,” the channel reported after the attack that targeted the Thaqban area in Bani al-Harith.

Detained migrants caught in the crossfire

A later report by the station showed graphic footage and said that 68 people had been killed when a migrant detention centre was hit in the strikes on Saada.

The facility had been holding about 100 people from Ethiopia and other African countries detained while crossing Yemen in a bid to secure work in Saudi Arabia.

Houthi rebels allegedly earn large sums smuggling migrants over the border, but those seeking to cross are taking a significant risk, with the threat of detainment and abuse added to by long-running conflict.

A strike by the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in 2022 hit a detention centre killing 66 detainees, according to a United Nations report.

The Houthis shot dead 16 detainees who fled after the strike and wounded another 50, the UN said.

The latest US bombing raids raise the death toll from US strikes on Yemen to more than 250 people, according to a tally of Houthi announcements on casualties.

The US military said on Sunday that since March 15, it had struck more than 800 targets in Yemen and killed hundreds of rebel fighters.

“These strikes have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders,” CENTCOM said. It added that the attacks on Yemen would continue but details would continue to be restricted.

“To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations,” CENTCOM said.

“We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do,” it added.

The US has not commented on civilian casualties from its intense bombing of Yemen, which began on March 15 and has involved almost daily attacks.

US forces say they are targeting the Houthis because of the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, and on Israel. The Houthis say they launched their attacks on Red Sea shipping linked to Israel in retaliation against Israel’s war on Gaza.

On April 18, a US strike on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest-known attack to date by the US on Yemen.

The increase in US attacks also comes as US President Donald Trump intensifies efforts to pressure Iran – the main supporter of the Houthis – into agreeing to a new deal on its nuclear capabilities.

The US is conducting strikes from its two aircraft carriers in the region – the USS Harry S Truman in the Red Sea and the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.

Houthi forces, nevertheless, continue to launch missiles at Israel and US vessels in the Red Sea, as well as US military drones.