At least one person was killed, and 14 were injured in an explosion in the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, a local official told Iranian news agencies.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander had been targeted in the explosion were “completely false”.
According to the Hormozgan Governorate, the sound heard in Bandar Abbas was caused by an explosion in a residential house in one of the city’s neighbourhoods, Tasnim added.
Officials said the blast occurred in an eight-storey building on Moallem Boulevard.
The explosion destroyed two floors of the building and damaged several vehicles and a nearby shop.
Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s most important container port, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman, which handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.
The port suffered a major explosion last April that killed dozens and injured over 1,000 people. An investigative committee at the time blamed the blast on shortcomings in adherence to principles of civil defence and security.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters that Israel was not involved in Saturday’s blasts, which came amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests and over the country’s nuclear programme.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The explosion comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian authorities quelled the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the Iranian government.
At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday an “armada” was heading toward Iran. Multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused U.S., Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, inciting unrest and providing people with the means to “tear the nation apart”.
Separately, four people were killed after a gas explosion in the city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border, according to state-run Tehran Times. No further information was immediately available.
