Tehran – Within hours of Kharg catching fire and sinking, there was a massive fire in an oil refinery in Tehran, the Iranian capital. These two fires rocked Iran in a span of only a few hours. The local agency claimed to have brought the fire, which was blazing till Wednesday night, under control, on Thursday, early in the morning. However, locals said that the smoke could still be seen billowing from the refinery. The fire broke out in the refinery of the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Company to the south of the Iranian capital of Tehran. An official informed that the fire started at around 7 in the evening. The official clarified that this was an accident. The liquified gas pipeline developed a leak, leading to an explosion. But the official did not clarify the cause of the leak.
The local agencies claimed that the fire was brought under control, early in the morning, on Thursday. But the locals posted videos and photographs busting the claims made by the agencies. The media and locals said that smoke was seen billowing from the refinery in the afternoon on Thursday. The Iranian agencies had said that one person was injured in the fire. Still, the Iranian agencies announced that the number of injured people rose to 11 by Thursday afternoon, and four people had to be admitted to the hospital.
This refinery produces 250,000 barrels of fuel every day. This company is located in the industrial zone set up outside the Iranian capital of Tehran. Therefore, the agencies claim that all the necessary criteria have been fulfilled. But since the last few months, the number of accidents in the Iranian oil and chemical companies is increasing, and concerns are being expressed that the number of such accidents is more in the industrial zones.
Local media has said that ten days ago, nine people had been killed in an explosion in a firecracker factory. A British newspaper had claimed that this company was manufacturing drones and not firecrackers. The British newspaper had reported that the drones manufactured here were used to attack Israel during the Israel-Hamas conflict last month. Within just three days after this, there had been an explosion in another Iranian petrochemical company, claiming one life.
A few hours before the fire on Wednesday, a big Iranian ship had sunk after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman. The media chief of the Iranian navy, Behzad Jahanian, said, ‘There had been an explosion on the ship. The cause of the explosion is still not known.’ Since the last year, there have been suspicious fires in the fuel and chemical companies and the companies, locations and ships linked to the military in Iran. These include company projects in Baker Shahr, Zarghan, Bushehr, Natanz and Parchin projects and warehouses. There had also been explosions on the Saviz ship of the Iranian navy in the Red Sea region and on an oil tanker in the Syrian marine limits. More than a dozen explosions have been reported from Iran.
There have been three explosions, in the last year, in the Natanz project alone. Iran had accused Israel only regarding the April explosion, out of these. Iran had accused that Israel carried out this blast to rock the Iranian nuclear program. Iran also had carried out blasts on an Israeli freight ship and a military ship. These blasts are claimed to be an undeclared war between Israel and Iran. But Iran has not accused Israel of all the other explosions.
