The incident occurred when Iran held a third round of nuclear negotiations with the US in Oman.
Iranian media said he was killed on April 27 in a powerful explosion at Iran’s largest port of Bandar Abbas, which left at least 700 injured people.
Firefighters continue to work to put out the fires from Saturday’s explosion in the Shahydrajae section of the port, Iran’s largest container hub. The explosion crushes windows several miles of the area, cutting the metal off the shipping container, damaging the contents, according to state media.
The incident came when Iran held a third round of nuclear talks with the US in Oman.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a local disaster management official, told Iranian state media that others tried to evacuate the site while emergency services were trying to reach the area.
The explosion is believed to have been fueled by the port’s chemicals, but Tehran’s leadership has not yet given an official explanation after previously denied that the blast was related to Iran’s oil industry or due to mishandling of the solid fuel used in missiles.
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Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran’s crisis management organization, suggested that the explosion was caused by a decline in storage conditions for some chemicals in some containers in the port.
A spokesman for Iran’s defense ministry told state media that the explosion could have been a result of a false fuel, claiming that the area affected by the explosion did not contain military cargo.
Iran’s Home Ministry is still investigating the explosion, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut said earlier in the week that Tehran security services were on high alert for potential acts of sabotage and assassination.
Andrew Thornbrook and Reuters contributed to the report.
