Two explosions rocked Iran on Saturday and killed at least five people as the country continues to grapple with violent protests.
One person, a four-year-old girl, was killed, and 14 more were injured following a blast near Iran’s southern port of Bander Abbas today.
The port, which lies on the Strait of Hormuz, handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil, and is also reportedly home to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Headquarters.
A second blast was reported more than 600 miles away in an eight-storey residential building in the town of Ahvaz, where four people died, according to local reports, which fire officials say was caused by a gas leak.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters on Saturday that Israel was not involved in the blasts, but it remains unclear whether the explosions were linked to any US military action.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the second explosion were ‘completely false’.
Pictures showed significant damage to the lower floors of the tower block, while several cars and a shop were also reportedly damaged.
Footage showed the aftermath of the explosion, with rubble strewn across the street.
Other videos and pictures showed smoke rising from the site of the explosion today.
Several explosions rocked Iran on Saturday, leaving at least four people dead
At least four people were killed when the explosion struck a residential building. Picture shows thick plumes of smoke billowing out of an apartment block following an explosion in Iran
Screen grab shows damage after an explosion in a building in Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran on the Gulf coast, though the cause of the blast is yet unknown
Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information, and the cause of both explosions is currently unknown.
The reported explosions come amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian authorities quelled the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the country’s clerical rulers.
At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, according to Iranian officials.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that an ‘armada’ was heading toward Iran.
Multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused US, Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, inciting unrest and providing people with the means to ‘tear the nation apart’.
Pictures show significant damage to the lower floors of the tower block
State television said the explosion occurred at an eight-storey building, ‘destroying two floors, several vehicles, and shops’
Image shows damage caused to a shop front and a vehicle after the explosion on Saturday
The reported explosions come amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington
The explosion is understood to be under investigation
The explosions come after multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces
Tension between the US and Iran has spiked in the wake of a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests.
Trump had threatened military action if Iran continued to kill peaceful protesters or carried out mass executions of those detained.
There have been no further protests for days, and Trump claimed recently that Tehran had halted the planned execution of about 800 arrested protesters — a claim Iran’s top prosecutor called ‘completely false’.
But the President has indicated he is keeping his options open, saying on Thursday that any military action would make last June’s US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites ‘look like peanuts’.
US Central Command said on social media that its Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle now has a presence in the Middle East, noting the fighter jet ‘enhances combat readiness and promotes regional security and stability’.
Similarly, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Thursday that it deployed its Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar ‘in a defensive capacity’.
The protests in Iran began on December 28, sparked by the fall of the Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, which does not tolerate dissent.
The death toll reported by activists has continued to rise since the end of the demonstrations, as information trickles out despite a more than two-week internet blackout — the most comprehensive in Iran’s history.
Alongside the prospect of a military attack from the US, the Iranian regime is in danger of suffering further financial pain.
Trump has warned that any country doing business with Iran will pay a 25 per cent tariff on trade with the US, effective immediately.
The UK has also applied pressure on the regime.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters on Saturday that Israel was not involved in the blasts
Iran has been rocked by violent protests this month. Pictured: Families and residents gather at the Kahrizak Coroner’s Office confronting rows of body bags as they search for relatives killed during the regime’s violent crackdown on protests
Protesters set fire to a car in Tehran. Even by the regime’s own estimates, between 2,000 and 3,000 have been killed – but new figures have put the death toll at more than 33,000
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran, last week
Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke to Mr Araghchi and called on the Iranian government to ‘immediately end the violence, uphold fundamental rights and freedoms and ensure British nationals are safe’.
But ministers have come under pressure to act as more than 100 protesters gathered outside Downing Street on Saturday to call on the Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Keir Starmer has refused to make it illegal to support the group because he believes it will have no effect and would only make Britain feel ‘better about ourselves’.
Downing Street said the prime minister ‘utterly condemns’ the violence being used by the authorities in Iran.
Meanwhile, the country’s exiled crown prince of Iran has vowed to seize the power ‘taken by this regime’ and put it back into the hands of its citizens.
Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, reiterated his ‘unwavering commitment to democracy and human rights’.
During a press conference on January 16, he told reporters: ‘This has been my position the day I started and remains my position to this day.
‘They [the Iranian people] know they can trust me because I’ve never wavered from this and ultimately what I’m trying to make sure is the final element that will prove to the Iranians that are in full control of their own destiny is to turn power back to them – a power that has been taken away from them by this regime which we are fighting today.
Heavily armed trucks seen patrolling Tehran on Saturday after being deployed to protect government sites
A woman holds up a placard as she stands in front of a pre-1979 Islamic Revolution Iranian flag during a demonstration in solidarity with Iranian protestors, in Israel’s central city of Holon on January 24, 2026
‘That’s my commitment, and they can trust me on that.’
Mr Pahlavi also encouraged protesters, who have chanted slogans including ‘Death to the dictator!’ and ‘Death to the Islamic Republic!’ – to make their voices heard.
‘Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands,’ he said in a statement earlier this month.
‘I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the (Revolutionary Guard) that the world and (US President Donald Trump) are closely watching you. Suppression of the people will not go unanswered.’