October 30, 2020
Seven more explosions and fires have rumbled across Iran, but they have received little national attention as the public appears to have accepted that the rash of explosions last summer were mostly the result of lax safety procedures and not something political.
Meanwhile, the government has said the blast that ruined a building at the Natanz centrifuge complex July 2—the one clearly political explosion over the summer—may have been set by “internal agents” rather than foreign countries, as it has previously proclaimed.
Government spokesman Ali Rabii told reporters, “One of the strong theories is that internal agents were involved in the incident. The issue is being seriously reviewed by the country’s security organizations and we will announce the results after things are clear.”
A previously unknown group, saying it was comprised of people working for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, long ago claimed responsibility for the explosion, which ruined an above-ground building where centrifuges were assembled.
Here are the latest rash of incidents.
An explosion and fire September 11 leveled a battery shop in Tohid Street in Tehran, killing one person and injuring 10. State TV said 10 cars and 30 buildings suffered damage.
On September 17, an unplanned explosion disrupted a military drill being held just east of Tehran. A provincial official said there was no damage or injuries.
A major fire erupted September 22 at a dairy in Eslam-shahr just outside Tehran. The fire department said it took hours to get the fire under control but there were no injuries.
On September 27, a firebomb was exploded at the entrance to the court in Shiraz that earlier sentenced wrestler Navid Afkari to death. It was assumed the incident was in retaliation for the sentence. The state news agency said the damage was minor.
On October 3, an explosion at the Razi industrial estate in Shahreza county of Esfahan province killed a welder working on an oil tank.
On October 11, five people were killed when an explosion, believed coming from the natural gas system, blew up in a residential area of Ahvaz, leveling a two-story apartment house, and damaging four nearby residential buildings and six shops.
On October 23, an explosion erupted in the aromatic section of the Khormosi Petrochemical Plant in Bandar Khomeini. No one was killed, but a major fire then raged through the plant.
These seven fires and explosions added to the 18 listed in previous issues of the Iran Times brings to 25 the total number of incidents since June 26.