At least two explosions tore through Iran on Saturday, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others, according to state media reports. One of the blasts struck the key southern port city of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported. The port is also home to the naval headquarters of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
State media in Iran reported that the huge explosion claimed the life of a child and left 14 others injured in an eight-story residential building. More casualties are expected, the state media reported. Iranian authorities moved quickly to deny early suggestions that the blast was linked to any military action.
Explosions Rock Iran
"No drone attack has occurred on the IRGC Navy's headquarters in Hormozgan, and no building affiliated with this force has been damaged," the IRGC said, according to the outlet. The IRGC also dismissed claims circulating on social media that one of its naval commanders had been targeted, according to The Times of Israel.
The incident comes as the Iranian Navy was preparing to hold live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and Monday, at a time when the US had repositioned its Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group from the Indian Ocean closer to Iran.
The move has heightened tensions as relations between Tehran and the Trump administration continue to strain.
Bandar Abbas sits directly on the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
US Warning to Iran
Early Saturday, the US military's Central Command delivered a blunt warning to Tehran, cautioning that any "unsafe and unprofessional behavior" near US forces, regional allies, or commercial ships could raise the risk of collisions, fuel escalation, and further destabilize the region.
A second explosion was reported later on Saturday across the strait in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, where a gas blast at a residential complex is said to have killed five people, according to The Jerusalem Post.
