At least five people were killed and dozens injured in Iran on Saturday after two separate explosions rocked the country, blasts that Iranian officials claimed were caused by gas leaks.
Iranian state media reported that a residential building in Bandar Abbas, a southern port city, exploded, leaving one person dead and 14 injured. Footage of the aftermath shows at least three floors of the building completely exposed, with rubble spilling into the parking lot and damaging nearby vehicles.
Another explosion was reported in Ahvaz, a city nearly 700 miles from Bandar Abbas. Iran International reported that the blast hit a four-unit residential building, killing a family of four.
The Iranian fire chiefs of both cities claimed the explosions were due to gas leaks, while Israeli officials denied involvement to Reuters.
Some reports suggested that Iran’s navy may have been targeted in at least one of the blasts, given the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s main naval base is in Bandar Abbas. The Guard, however, denied those rumors, including one that its navy commander, Alireza Tangsiri, was assassinated.
“No drone attack has occurred on the IRGC Navy’s headquarters in Hormozgan, and no building affiliated with this force has been damaged,” the Guard said in a statement.
The blasts come amid heightened tension in the region, as President Donald Trump is still weighing a response to the regime’s violent crackdown on protests that wracked Tehran.
Compounding those tensions is a scheduled live-fire drill from the Iranian military in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane. Those are set to take place on Sunday and Monday, while joint naval exercises involving Iran, Russia, and China will take place in late February, according to the Tehran Times.
U.S. Central Command has warned Iran ahead of the drills, telling the regime that any “unsafe and unprofessional behavior near U.S. forces, regional partners or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation and destabilization.”
CENTCOM also pledged to protect U.S. “personnel, ships, and aircraft operating in the Middle East” as the exercises go on.
“We will not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions including overflight of U.S. military vessels engaged in flight operations, low-altitude or armed overflight of U.S. military assets when intentions are unclear, highspeed boat approaches on a collision course with U.S. military vessels, or weapons trained at U.S. forces,” it said. “The U.S. military has the most highly trained and lethal force in the world and will continue to operate with the highest levels of professionalism and adhere to international norms. Iran’s IRGC must do the same.”