At least 3 killed, 10 hurt in blast at Iranian petrochemical facility

A fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in southern Iran on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring 10, state television reported.

“Given the scale of the incident, the number of injuries and deaths is likely to increase,” the broadcaster added, airing images of smoke rising from the Kaveh Petrochemical Complex in Bushehr province, 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Tehran.

A video posted on social media showed thick black smoke and flames engulfing the facility.

The mayor of the adjacent port city of Dayyer, Alireza Sajadi, told the television station that the fire broke out in the complex’s dedicated port but “has been contained.”

He said he had no immediate word on the cause of the blaze but said more details would follow in “a few hours.”

The blast comes two months after at least 70 people were killed and some 1,000 injured in an explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas.

A fire broke out at a methanol storage tank in the Kaveh Petrochemical Complex in Bandar Dayyar in Bushehr Province, killing at least three people and wounding 10 people, Iranian media cite the head of emergency services in Bushehr Province. pic.twitter.com/YiCPN9gzuD

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) June 11, 2025

The Shahid Rajaei port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles — something denied by authorities, though they’ve not explained the source of the power that caused such destruction.

Social media footage of the April explosion saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The blast in April disintegrated a building, which appeared to be in a row where other containers once stood, satellite photos showed. It also shredded the majority of another building just to the west.