Explainer: What’s Behind a Rash of Fires and Explosions in Iran?

A fire of unknown origin broke out Wednesday afternoon at Iran’s southwest port of Bushehr, spreading to at least seven ships and resulting in extensive damage. The destruction at the shipyard—just miles away from Iran’s only nuclear power station—is the latest in a recent string of mysterious explosions across the country since late June.

Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, close to the location of a recent mysterious fire.

Despite claims from Iranian officials that the occurrences have been accidental, the fires’ locations—in and around key military, nuclear, and industrial facilities—have ignited widespread speculation that something more than coincidence explains the incidents. 

On June 26, a blast went off at the Khojir missile plant near Tehran. That same day, a fire at a power station took out half of Shiraz city’s power. Four days later, on June 30, an explosion at Sina Athar Medical Center in northern Tehran—reportedly caused by a gas leak—killed 19 people.

Early this month, a massive explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility caused extensive damage to the site’s centrifuge factory but resulted in no casualties. Two days later, a fire ravaged a power plant in southwest Iran and a chlorine gas leak at a petrochemicals plant injured 70 workers. Two people were killed and three injured in a factory explosion south of Tehran July 7, only a few days later. On July 10, explosions were reported west of Tehran, causing blackouts across the city.

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Comments (29)
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  • Wonderful piece. Disturbed by the civilian casualties, regardless of who is the perpetrator. There must be a better way of achieving foreign policy aims than that. One could attempt to justify the deaths and injuries of the plant workers as being necessary since they are seen as part of a broader war effort. But even then, how does that justify the deaths of those at a Health Clinic?

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  • Hey, what about the 110 us soldiers who suffered TBI in that attack, nearly half serious enough to be eligible for a Purple Heart. Just because Trump thinks a brain injury isn’t a big deal doesn’t mean The Dispatch should gloss over an injury that can take you out of commission as certainly as broken bones, and sometimes with long term consequences. Expected better from you guys!

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  • This article reminds me of probably the most successful cyber attack ever unleashed: Stuxnet, which set back the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Was it ever determined who developed it?

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  • The Mossad Psychological Warfare Twitter Feed (which everyone should follow) has "claimed" responsibility. https://twitter.com/TheMossadIL/status/1283399116144467968 They had earlier that day asked for a good place to buy marshmallows in Tehran at 11pm.

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    1. I should have added, you should follow it because it is hilarious. They constantly play games with their enemies.

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  • One of these days, my paisanos will figure out that there are things like education, healthcare, transportation, commerce, and other good things and centrifuges, rockets, and the like are not among them. Until then, we can only hope and root for our friends.

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  • According to Occam's Razor ('...when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions.', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor) you have to think the Israeli's are doing it.

    1. They have the motivation.
    2. They have the talent and infrastructure.
    3. They have done it before.
    4. As mentioned, they know how to keep their mouths shut. (See also, Gerald Bull).

    They might have help, but I don't know that they have to.

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  • I wonder who else is motivated. China, to drive Iran further into its arms by reducing the desirability of build it here? Russia to show China that Iran is not a stable partner? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Middle East states more moderate than Iran? I also subscribe to the Israel theory, but this world is too complex to ignore other possibilities.

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    1. I wonder about the fire on Bonhomme Richard.

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  • "Tehran promised “harsh revenge,” but limited its attacks to U.S. bases in Iraq, which resulted in no casualties to American troops." Shouldn't "casualties" be "fatalities"?

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    1. It's a British/American thing. (Two people divided by a common language . . . ) Brits call all injuries "casualties" ad Americans tend to limit them to deaths. You'll see that Mads and You link to British sources.

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      1. Colloquially I think that's probably fair Dante (although I think dictionary sites are pretty consistent re the quote unquote "official" definition e.g. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/casualty?s=t). At least in my workplace style guide (which is US based) that's the definition as well, but it's only that way because people would probably revert to casualties = deaths otherwise.

        So much nitpickery

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    2. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/casualty:

      "a person injured or killed in a serious accident or war".

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      1. Exactly. See for isntance https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51453829

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  • Great piece! This is a big reason I subscribe to The Dispatch, you all do excellent work in regards to foreign policy/affairs.

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    1. Right? It seems like they just keep hiring new writers who jump right into pumping out great articles. I'm considering my Dispatch t-shirt $30 well spent.

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      1. T-shirts!?! Where have I been?

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        1. I don't know! How would I know that? I'm not some sort of stalker.

          But the merch site was brought up during the last Dispatch live a couple of weeks ago.

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      2. ... but I'm still waiting for a /Dingo t-shirt

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        1. I wouldn't say no to that! Meanwhile my Dispatch shirt just arrived and I'm happily rocking it.

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