- Tasnim news agency rejects reports of official IRCG attacks.
- Iranian media say the cause of the explosion is a government investigation.
- The explosion comes amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.
At least one person was killed and 14 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 social media reports claiming that a Revolutionary Guard Navy commander had been the target of the explosion were “completely false”.
The local head of the fire department, citing a preliminary assessment, said the explosion that hit a building in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas was caused by a gas leak.
“This (the gas leak and accumulation) is the preliminary assessment. My colleagues will give more details in the coming hours,” Mohammad Amin Liaqat, head of the fire department, said in a video published by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency.
Separately, four people died after a gas explosion in the city of Ahvaz, near the Iraqi border, according to the state-run Tehran Times newspaper. No further information was immediately available.
Two Israeli officials said Reuters that Israel was not involved in Saturday's explosions, which occurred amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington over nationwide protests and the country's nuclear program.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US President Donald Trump said on January 22 that an “armada” was heading towards Iran. Multiple sources said Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted attacks on security forces.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused American, Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran's economic problems, inciting unrest and giving people the means to “tear up the nation.”
Bandar Abbas, home to Iran's most important container port, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman that handles about a fifth of the world's maritime oil.
The port suffered a major explosion last April that killed dozens and injured more than 1,000 people. An investigative committee then attributed the explosion to failure to comply with civil defense and security principles.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests that erupted in December over economic difficulties and have posed one of the toughest challenges for the government.
At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.
