At least 1 dead in explosion in Iranian port city before Iran

A day before a planned Iranian naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, an explosion leveled an apartment building Saturday in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, which lies on the strait.

The explosion killed a 4-year-old girl while local media footage allegedly showed a member of the security forces being carried away by rescuers.

Iran is planning a naval exercise on Sunday and Monday in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all commercialized oil passes. The US military has warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the strait.

State television cited a local fire official who attributed the explosion to a gas leak. Media reported that at least 14 other people were injured in the explosion.

A local newspaper, Sobh-e Sahel, aired footage of a correspondent speaking in front of the building. The images included a sequence showing a man in a green security forces uniform being carried on a stretcher. He was wearing a neck brace and appeared to be in pain; his left hand covered the branch insignia on his uniform.

The newspaper did not acknowledge that the security forces member was executed anywhere else in its coverage. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard did not discuss the explosion, except to deny that a Guard marine commander had been injured.

Another explosion attributed to a gas explosion on Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed five people, state media reported.

Iran remains tense due to a threat from President Trump to potentially launch a military attack on the country for the murder of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of those arrested in a major crackdown on demonstrations.

Speaking to News themezone Thursday night on the red carpet at the premiere of “Melania,” the documentary that offers an inside look at first lady Melania Trump’s life in the days after her husband’s 2024 election victory, Trump said he “has had” conversations with Iran in recent days and “I’m planning” to have more.

Trump said that, in those conversations, “he told them two things. Number one, no nuclear weapons. And number two, to stop killing protesters. They are killing thousands.”

At least 10 US warships, including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers, were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters on Friday.

“We have a lot of very large, very powerful ships sailing toward Iran right now,” Trump told News themezone on Thursday. “And it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”

Ali Larijani, a senior security official in Iran, wrote late Saturday that “structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.” News themezone on Friday asked the White House for clarification on any ongoing direct negotiations between the Trump administration and Tehran.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday called for a reduction in tensions and said Egypt is working to bring the United States and Iran to the negotiating table to achieve a “peaceful and comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear file,” according to a statement in his phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Qatar in a statement said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited Tehran on Saturday and met with Larijani to discuss “efforts to reduce tensions in the region.”