Another of those mysterious “accidents” happened at a steel factory in Iran on Saturday night. The Ayatollah has been having a rough couple of weeks. The blaze and what was officially not an explosion (but seemed like one) lit up the city of Zarand in the southeast region of the regime. This is only what reports are calling “the latest in a mysterious string of blasts and ‘accidental’ blazes at sensitive sites to beset the Islamic Republic.” Of course, everyone points to Israel but they yanked Netanyahu out of power the other day so maybe they aren’t to blame. At least not this time.
Under control, Iran says
With everyone in Iran chattering about “possible Israel sabotage akin to what happened a year ago in the summer of 2020,” the top official in charge of Zarand insists that “no injuries were caused in the incident and that everything is “under control.” The official story is that the mishap was “caused by the sudden overflow of molten material in the blast furnace.”
There’s a lot of speculation that it was one of those sneaky infrastructure hack attacks. Zarand’s governor swears up and down that “no explosion occurred” even though “some early videos show otherwise.”
Videos are all over Twitter which captured the “sizable blaze which appear to have triggered a significant explosion.” The footage also seems to show “debris and what looks like molten steel flying into the air.” That would not be a great place to be at the time it happened.
Experts suggest that it doesn’t matter if “Iran suspects that Israel is behind some of these latest incidents.” They won’t go public with any accusations because “negotiators are reportedly on the cusp of a nuclear deal in Vienna.” That means Joe Biden packing up pallets of cash to send over again. The last thing they want to do is blow that deal.
🎥 حادثه در کارخانه #فولاد_زرند کرمان
فرماندار شهرستان زرند:
حادثه کارخانه، سرریز شدن مواد مذاب بوده است
این حادثه در حال حاضر مهار شده است
از مردم زرند درخواست داریم به محل کارخانه مراجعه نکنند
تاکنون هیچ تلفات جانی از این حادثه گزارش نشده است pic.twitter.com/C29vHn2Tfa
— خبرگزاری تسنیم 🇮🇷 (@Tasnimnews_Fa) June 6, 2021
Complicating things, Iran has to at least put on appearances that they are having an election this month. They will be picking a new president who will exactly what the Ayatollah tells him to do. Meanwhile back in Jerusalem, “Israel has vowed to thwart a deal by any means possible.”
Lately, Netanyahu was so heavily “openly verbalizing” his willingness “to consider any level of action even if it causes ‘friction’ with the United States” that it got him yanked from office.
Fires at oil facilities
Iran isn’t confirming it but there are rumors “of other fires afflicting oil facilities throughout the country.” Voice of America is reporting that “Several oil facility fires have occurred” in the southwestern Ahvaz region “during the past 48 hours.” They point out those reports “came on the heels of a massive oil refinery fire this week in the capital, Tehran.”
Their capitol is blazing a lot like Minneapolis. At least one “Middle East news source” is willing to write about the “recent string of fires and explosions hitting key Iranian assets.”
🇮🇷🇮🇷 #Video:
👉 The “#Kharg”, #Iran’s Navy largest vessel, on fire this morning in the #Gulf of #Oman. The ship sank later. pic.twitter.com/8EhfNQd0b9
— Dr. Ali BAKIR (علي باكير) (@AliBakeer) June 2, 2021
A few days ago “a major fire tore through the Tehran Oil Refining Company.” Then somebody sunk their battleship. They were rocked by an explosion and fire that sank the Ayatollah’s largest naval vessel in the Sea of Oman.”
Back on shore, “nine people were injured in another blast at a plant producing explosive materials in central Iran.” Three days later, “a pipeline explosion at a petrochemical complex near Iran’s Gulf coast left one dead.”
Those were the big blazes but the Revolutionary Guard were hit with a whole rash of possible sabotage incidents.
“At least one fire has been associated with an Iranian military site, with The Guardian reporting that a blast hit the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, which produces a variety of aircraft, including drones, for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces.”
