Israel Matzav

Nuclear accident in Iran?

An explosion took place this morning in the city of Tabriz, Iran. Tabriz has been designated as a possible nuclear weapons facility. Here's the explosion story (Hat Tips to Mojo Jojo and Shiplord Kirel of LGF).

An explosion shook the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz on Monday, but the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Fars said the blast occurred shortly after midday [It's now a few minutes past 1:30 PM in Iran. CiJ] and was felt across the city. It was not clear whether there were any casualties.

"The blast was very strong. It shook the city. But the reason behind the blast is still unknown," Fars said, without quoting a source.

Tabriz is the capital of Iran's Northeastern Azerbaijan province.

"The windows of many buildings were shattered from the blast," the agency said.

Iran often blames blasts in outlying provinces on foreign agents.

The majority of the population in Tabriz are Azeris and speak a language closely related to Turkish. They make up about 25 percent of the population in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nuclear weapons explosion? Stay tuned.

UPDATE 12:18 PM

Iran is now claiming that 'construction work' caused the blast.

"The workers were blasting the Einali mountain to build a road," an official in the Tabriz governor's office told Reuters by telephone.

A road to where? That's one heck of an explosion for a road that probably isn't going right through the center of town.... Shall we say I have my doubts?

UPDATE 12:25 PM

More details here.

UPDATE 1:03 PM

IRNA (the Iranian government news agency) is now reporting a different cause for the explosion.

The explosion heard in Tabriz on Monday has been caused by disposal of waste ammunition.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said that the 31st combat division of Ashura, an affiliate to IRGC, had destroyed the waste ammunition on suburbs of Tabriz.

IRNA reporter in Tabriz said that the explosion was strong enough to cause public anxiety.

The IRGC said in a statement that the ammunition waste disposal had been arranged so far and no damage was caused for the operators.

The thick plottens.

UPDATE 1:46 PM

Tabriz also hosts a natural gas pipeline through which Iran exports natural gas to Turkey. Yet another possible source of explosion.

UPDATE 5:18 PM

More updates here.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:05 PM