Huge blast kills 17 at Iran military base
TEHRAN |
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday killed 17 Revolutionary Guards and wounded 15, a spokesman for the elite fighting force told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Officials said the blast was an accident which happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran.
The explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around, at a time of mounting tension with Israel over Iran's nuclear program.
"Today at 13:30, (0900 GMT), an explosion happened in one of the Revolutionary Guards' bases while a consignment of explosive devices was being moved out from the arsenal, besides that some munitions in the arsenal exploded which created a terrifying sound," Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told state
TV.
Sharif initially said 27 people had been killed but later revised that figure down to 17.
Residents in western suburbs of Tehran told Reuters they had felt the blast, some assuming it to be a moderate earthquake.
The explosion started a fire at the base which raged for hours. Surrounding streets were closed and reporters were kept away from the scene.
RISK
Some media reported there had been two explosions and the head of Iran's Red Crescent organization said there was a risk of further blasts.
Mahmoud Mozafar told the Mehr news agency that only six paramedics had been allowed into the Amir Al-Momenin military base and that thick smoke was hampering the rescue operation.
There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out attacking facilities whose occupants they believe are working toward making nuclear weapons.
Sharif denied what he said was speculation in the Western media that the military base was linked to Iran's nuclear program.
"This blast is not related to any nuclear tests that some foreign media have reported," he told Mehr.
Tehran denies Western accusations, that were given some credence by a report from the UN nuclear agency this week, that its nuclear program has military ends.
On October 12 last year a similar blast at a Revolutionary Guards munitions store killed and wounded several servicemen in Khoramabad, western Iran. Authorities said that explosion was an accident too.
(Additional reporting by Mitra Amiri and Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Tim Pearce)
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So while many nations ‘see’ the illegality of the Zionist nation, only Iran has the tenacity and raw courage to openly state the case. All others are lead by stuttering cowards who are mere shadows of the statesmen the world used to produce. Long gone are the days of great men it seems.
The sad reality is that the Muslim and the Christian, both people of the old book, have more in common with one another than either side has with the Zionists. Christians and Muslims both follow a prophet of God, each to their own, while the Zionists breathlessly await their prophets first coming. Three sides of a theological debate holding the rest of the world hostage to the threat of nuclear war. How much longer do these three nations get to drag the rest of humanity down?
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