Iran denies senior military leader assassinated after explosions reported
Iran has denied its military leaders have been targeted after at least four people were reported to have died in several explosions.
A blast was reported at a residential building in the city of Ahvaz in the southwestern Khuzestan province.
One person is thought to have been killed and 14 injured following a separate explosion in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Strait of Hormuz.
State media said two floors of the building had been destroyed, along with several cars and shops.
Authorities said reports that a Revolutionary Guard naval commander had been targeted were ‘completely false’.
Both incidents are under investigation, with a gas leak reported to be a possible cause of the Bandar Abbas blast.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of a third explosion in Parand, a planned city near Tehran’s international airport.
The latest incidents come as Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use military force against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
The president responded to December’s anti-government protests by promising that help was ‘on the way’ and suggested he had sent a ‘massive armada’ to topple the regime.
At least 5,000 people were killed during the unrest, which broke out against a backdrop of a worsening economy, including more than 500 members of the security forces, Iranian officials said.
However human rights groups say they are still working to ascertain the status of thousands more protesters.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been heightened since the US targeted Iran’s nuclear sites with ‘bunker buster’ bombs during the twelve-day war between the gulf state and Israel.
Trump was reportedly considering various options on Friday, including targeted strikes on military facilities.
Israeli officials denied any involvement in the latest incidents, while the Pentagon has yet to comment.
Earlier today, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian accused US and European leaders of giving Iranians the means to ‘tear the nation apart’ and exploiting the country’s economic crisis.
Footage showed the aftermath of the blast in Bandar Abbas, with debris and rubble from the building strewn over the road.
Dozens were killed and 1,000 injured following an explosion in the port city in April last year.
An official investigation attributed the incident to a failure of security and civil defence protocols.
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