The cause of the incident and the damage caused are yet to be determined.
By TZVI JOFFREFire at shipyard in Bushehr, Iran, July 15, 2020(photo credit: FARS NEWS AGENCY)
A large fire broke out at an Iranian shipyard in the port city of Bushehr in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, reportedly spreading to seven ships within the yard. No casualties have been reported.The fire was the second in Iran reported on Wednesday, after a fire broke out at an aluminum factory in Lamerd in southern Iran. The fire at the Delvar Shipyard in Bushehr filled the city with thick smoke and firefighters struggled to contain and extinguish the flames. State broadcaster IRIB showed fighters tackling clouds of smoke at the southern port, situated on the Persian Gulf.The cause of the incident and the damage caused are yet to be determined, according to the Iranian Fars News Agency. The incident comes just days after a large fire broke out on a US warship in San Diego. Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force Commander Esmail Ghaani stated about the incident in the US, "Americans shouldn’t blame others, this is the fire they lit.” Earlier in the day, a fire broke out at the South Aluminum Corporation in Lamerd, causing "minor damage" according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency. The fire was caused by an "oil leak," according to Mehr.
The two fires are the latest in a series of fires and explosions that have plagued Iranian industry and infrastructure in recent weeks, including oil plants, nuclear facilities and factories.An explosion was reported at a gas condensate plant in the Kavian Fariman industrial zone in eastern Iran's Razavi Khorasan Province on Monday, according to Iranian media. The explosion caused extensive damage to the company and to a neighboring company, but did not cause casualties, according to the local fire chief, Iran's ILNA reported. The cause of the incident is under investigation. The IRGC and Iranian police were at the scene of the incident on Monday.And on July 2, there was a fire at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear facility. Natanz is the centrepiece of Iran's enrichment programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the UN's nuclear watchdog (IAEA) believe it had a coordinated, clandestine nuclear arms programme that it halted in 2003.On June 30, 19 people were killed in an explosion at a medical clinic in the north of the capital Tehran, which an official said was caused by a gas leak.On June 26, an explosion occurred east of Tehran near the Parchin military and weapons development base that the authorities said was caused by a leak in a gas storage facility in an area outside the base.In an article in early July, state news agency IRNA addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.Israel's defense minister said on July 5 his country was not "necessarily" behind every mysterious incident in Iran.Reuters contributed to this report.
