Category: International

A charged mob lynched an unidentified man for allegedly shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans during a local cricket match in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, Home Minister G Parameshwara confirmed on Tuesday.

According to an Indian media report, the horrific incident took place near the Bhatra Kallurti Temple in the Kudupu area on April 27.

Karnataka Home Minister Parameshwara said that the incident was under serious investigation, adding: “The victim’s identity is still unknown, and we don’t yet know if he was a local or from outside the state.”

Quoting preliminary investigations, Parameshwara said that the man allegedly shouted slogans during the match, which triggered the mob attack.

He called the lynching “deeply concerning” and said violence was not acceptable under any circumstances. “Even if someone said something offensive, the law should have taken its course. Taking matters into one’s own hands is unacceptable,” the minister added.

“We don’t yet have full clarity on what happened or who was involved. It’s too early to link it to any particular community. I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and harmony. This region has a legacy of communal amity, and that must be preserved,” Parameshwara added.

As per India Today’s report, the incident occurred around 3 pm on Sunday during a cricket tournament. Quoting eyewitnesses, the report stated that a scuffle broke out between the victim and a man named Sachin, which soon escalated into a group assault.

Police said that Sachin, 26, was among the 15 arrested so far.

A postmortem at Wenlock District Hospital confirmed the death was caused by internal bleeding and shock from repeated blows to the back.

The police estimate that around 25 people were involved in the assault. Nineteen individuals have been named in the First Information Report (FIR), with more likely to be identified through CCTV and mobile data analysis.

RIYADH: A series of stringent penalties have been announced by the Saudi Ministry of Interior targeting individuals who attempt to perform Hajj without the required permit, as well as those who facilitate such violations.

From the first of Dhul-Qi’dah until the 14th of Dhul-Hijjah, the measures will be enforced.

Under the new regulations, individuals caught performing or attempting to perform Hajj without a valid permit will face fines of up to SAR 20,000.

This penalty also applies to holders of all types of visit visas who enter or stay in Makkah or the holy sites during the restricted period without proper authorisation.

Stricter penalties are set for facilitators: a fine of up to SAR 100,000 will be imposed on anyone who sponsors a visit visa for an individual who violates the Hajj permit regulations.

The same penalty applies to those who transport, shelter, or assist visit visa holders in reaching or staying in Makkah and the holy sites. This includes accommodating them in hotels, apartments, private residences, shelters, or designated Hajj accommodations. The fine will be multiplied for each individual involved.

Additionally, illegal infiltrators – whether residents or overstayers – found attempting to perform Hajj will be deported and banned from re-entering the Kingdom for a period of ten years.

Authorities will also request the confiscation of land vehicles used to transport unauthorised individuals to the holy sites, provided they are owned by the transporter, facilitator, or any accomplices.

The ministry emphasised that these measures will ensure the safety, security, and organisation of the annual pilgrimage, and called on all citizens, residents, and visitors to comply fully with Hajj regulations.

MADRID: Spanish electricity grid operator REE REDE.MC said on Tuesday its preliminary assessment had ruled out cyberattack as the cause of the nationwide power outage that hit most of Spain and Portugal on Monday.

Lights went off in most of the two countries at 12:33pm (1033 GMT) on Monday in what was the worst blackout ever recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Power supply only resumed in the evening.

REE’s System Operations Chief Eduardo Prieto told a news briefing the electricity system was hit by a dramatic power generation loss in southwestern Spain, that caused instability in the system that led to its disconnection from the French grid.

He said it was quite possible that the affected generation was solar, but it was to early to say for sure.

Prieto said the system was now stable and working normally.

Prime Minister Mark Carney won Canada’s election Monday, leading his Liberal Party to a new term in power after convincing voters his experience managing crises had prepared him to confront United States President Donald Trump.

The public broadcaster CBC and other outlets projected the Liberals would form Canada’s next government, but it was not yet clear if they would hold a majority in parliament.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre fell short of becoming prime minister, but his party was on track to form a strong opposition.

Carney, who had never held elected office and only replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister last month, previously served as central bank governor in both Canada and Britain.

Trump’s trade war and annexation threats outraged Canadians and made dealing with the United States a top campaign issue.

Carney, a 60-year-old former investment banker, anchored his campaign on an anti-Trump message, promising to expand Canada’s overseas trading relationships to curb reliance on the United States, a country he said “we can no longer trust.”

Carney has described the threat of Trump in stark terms.

“Donald Trump wants to break us so America can own us,” he said during the campaign.

“They want our resources, they want our water, they want our land, they want our country. They can’t have it.”

When the CBC projection was announced, cheers of joy erupted at the Ottawa venue where Liberal supporters were watching the results.

“I’m happy in the sense that we’ve got somebody that can speak to Mr Trump on his level,” said Dorothy Goubault, 72. “Mr Trump is a business person. Mr Carney is a business person, and I think they can both relate.”

Before Trudeau resigned, Trump had mocked him, calling the prime minister “governor” as he urged Canada to become the 51st US state.

Goubault said she expects that mockery to stop.

“It’s not the governor anymore, it’s the prime minister of Canada, and it’s not the 51st state anymore. It’s ‘We are Canada!’”

Liberal lawmaker and a member of Carney’s cabinet, Steven Guilbeault, tied the outcome to Trump.

“The numerous attacks by President Trump on the Canadian economy, but not just the economy, on our sovereignty and our very identity, have really mobilised Canadians, and I think they saw in Prime Minister Carney someone who has experience on the world stage, someone who has experience with the economy,” he told the CBC.

Carney led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and headed the Bank of England through the turmoil surrounding the 2016 Brexit vote.

Trudeau’s departure

Trudeau’s departure was also crucial to the Liberal win, which capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history.

On January 6, the day Trudeau announced he would resign, the Conservatives led the Liberals by more than 20 points in most polls, as public anger over soaring costs mounted after Trudeau’s decade in power.

But Carney replacing Trudeau, combined with nationwide unease about Trump, transformed the race.

Carney distanced himself from Trudeau throughout the campaign.

He said the former prime minister did not focus enough on growing Canada’s economy and scrapped a controversial Trudeau tax on carbon emissions that left many voters seething.

For Poilievre, a 45-year-old who has been in parliament for two decades, the outcome marks a stinging defeat.

He was criticised for the at-times muted anger he directed towards Trump, but said he wanted to keep the focus on domestic concerns.

He tried to persuade voters that Carney would simply offer a continuation of the failed Liberal governance, an argument that fell short.

At the Conservative watch party in Ottawa, Jason Piche told AFP he was surprised by the result.

“I was hoping to have a big celebration tonight,” Piche said.

Nearly 29 million of Canada’s 41 million people were eligible to vote in the massive G7 country that spans six time zones.

Results were still pending on the shape of Canada’s 343 members of parliament, with 172 seats needed for a majority. The Liberals won a majority in 2015 but have governed with a minority since 2019.

MADRID/LISBON: After a huge outage brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, grounding planes, halting public transport, and forcing hospitals to suspend routine operations, power started returning to parts of the Iberian peninsula late on Monday.

A national emergency was declared by Spain’s Interior Ministry, deploying 30,000 police across the country to keep order as governments from the two countries convened emergency cabinet meetings. Outages on such a scale are extremely rare in Europe.

The cause was unclear, with Portugal suggesting the issue originated in Spain and Spain pointing the finger at a break-up in its connection to France.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said there was “no indication” a cyberattack had caused the blackout, which began around 1033GMT.

Nonetheless, rumours circulated of possible sabotage, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he had spoken to Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Sanchez said that the country had suffered a loss of 15GW of electricity generation in five seconds, equivalent to 60% of national demand. Technicians were working to figure out why that sudden drop occurred, he said.

“This is something that has never happened before,” he said.

Joao Conceicao, a board member of Portuguese grid operator REN, told reporters the company had not ruled out the possibility of a “very large oscillation in electrical voltage, first in the Spanish system, which then spread to the Portuguese system”.

“There could be a thousand and one causes, it’s premature to assess the cause,” he said, adding that REN was in contact with Spain.

Spain’s grid operator REE blamed a connection failure with France for triggering a knock-on effect.

“The extent of the loss of power was beyond what European systems are designed to handle and caused a disconnection of the Spanish and French grids, which in turn led to the collapse of the Spanish electric system,” Eduardo Prieto said.

Earlier, parts of France suffered a brief outage. RTE, the French grid operator, said it had moved to supplement power to some parts of northern Spain after the outage hit.

Power restored

In Spain, power started returning to the Basque country and Barcelona areas in the early afternoon, and to parts of capital Madrid on Monday night. About 61% of electricity had been restored by late Monday, according to the national grid operator.

Enagas said it had activated emergency systems to meet demand during the blackout, while Prieto said returning systems to normal would take “several hours”.

In a video posted on X, Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said city street lighting had not been fully restored so he recommended people stay at home, adding: “It is essential that the emergency services can circulate.”

Power was also gradually returning to various municipalities in Portugal late on Monday, including Lisbon city centre. Grid operator REN said 85 out of 89 power substations were back online.

Shops and metro closed

The blackout had wide-ranging effects across the peninsula.

Hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia in Spain suspended all routine medical work but were still attending to critical patients, using backup generators. Several Spanish oil refineries were shut down, and some retailers closed, including grocery chain Lidl and furniture giant IKEA.

Portuguese police said traffic lights were affected across the country and the metro was closed in Lisbon and Porto, while trains were cancelled in both countries.

“I just don’t know who to turn to. My daughter in Barcelona is giving birth. We’re going to miss the connection to get there,” said Angeles Alvarez, stranded outside Madrid’s Atocha railway station.

Sanchez said on Monday evening that about 35,000 train passengers had been rescued from trains while 11 trains still remained stranded in remote areas.

Images from a Madrid supermarket showed long queues at tills and empty shelves as people rushed to stock up on staples, while play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended.

The Bank of Spain said electronic banking was functioning “adequately” on backup systems, though residents also reported ATM screens had gone blank.

There were traffic jams in Madrid city centre as traffic lights stopped working, with people in reflective vests appointing themselves to direct vehicles at intersections. Local radio reported people trapped in stalled metro cars and elevators.

Many Spaniards decided to take a half-day off, congregating in streets and plazas for impromptu get-togethers or cooking meals by candlelight at home.

Internet traffic plummeted by 90% in Portugal and 80% in Spain compared to previous-week levels, according to Cloudflare Radar, which monitors global internet traffic.

Power outages of such a magnitude are rarely seen in Europe. In 2003 a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a major outage across the whole Italian peninsula for around 12 hours.

In 2006, an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of Europe and as far as Morocco.

About 43% of Spain’s energy comes from wind and solar power, with nuclear accounting for a further 20% and fossil fuels 23%, according to energy think tank Ember.

WARSAW: As European countries get ready for difficult negotiations on the EU’s next climate goal, Finland’s state secretary for climate told Reuters that the country supports a European Union target to lower the bloc’s net greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040.

A proposal from the European Commission regarding the 27-nation bloc’s 2040 climate target is awaited by EU member states.

The Commission had planned to propose a 90% net emissions cut last month, but delayed its proposal amid pushback on the target from some countries and lawmakers, who must approve the goal and are concerned about its impact on struggling European industries.

“We think it’s a good target,” Mika Nykänen said in an interview of the 90% commitment, which the EU’s independent advisers have also previously recommended.

“We need an attractive, solid investment environment in Europe, and if we change the big targets or change the policies, it will create uncertainty among investors and companies.”

EU countries’ environment ministers meet in Warsaw on Tuesday. While the 2040 target is not on their meeting’s official agenda, ministers are expected to discuss it on the sidelines.

Countries are split over the goal, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovenia among those backing 90%, while governments including Italy oppose.

In response to the political pushback, the Commission is looking at flexibilities that could soften the 90% goal, Reuters previously reported.

These include counting international carbon credits towards the target, which could weaken the CO2-cutting efforts it demands from domestic industries. Germany’s new government this month backed that idea, but said credits should be limited to covering just three percentage points of the 90% goal.

France is also interested in the idea if there are safeguards to ensure any international carbon credits deliver real emissions reductions in other countries, a government source said.

Nykänen said Finland had not proposed such flexibilities, but he understood the concerns of poorer EU nations, or those struggling to switch to cleaner energy, about their national contribution to the EU-level goal.

“There will be difficult negotiations on how to deal out this share, and every country has fears and concerns,” he said.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has said he now aims to propose the 2040 climate target before summer.

The EU already has a legally binding commitment to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels, and eliminate them by 2050.

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has emerged victorious after his Liberal Party managed to win Canada’s election on Monday.

Carney, who has a history of taking on roles at challenging moments, secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian history.

“I’m most useful in a crisis. I’m not that good at peacetime,” he said during the campaign.

Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian history.

Even with no government experience, he convinced voters that his background dealing with financial turmoil equipped him to lead Canada through US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

A 60-year-old married father of four, Carney was born near the Arctic in Fort Smith, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, but was raised in the western city of Edmonton.

Like many Canadians, he played hockey in his youth. He studied at Harvard in the United States and Oxford in England, and made a fortune as an investment banker early in his career at Goldman Sachs, working in New York, London, Tokyo and Toronto.

Carney then joined the Canadian civil service, eventually being appointed governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008 by former prime minister Stephen Harper, a conservative.

The global financial crisis erupted shortly thereafter, and Carney was among a group of leaders credited with steering Canada through an international meltdown relatively unscathed.

In 2013 the then UK prime minister, David Cameron, tapped him to head the Bank of England, making Carney the first non-Briton to lead the institution since its founding in 1694.

The UK then voted to leave the European Union, and Carney played a key role in reassuring markets following the 2016 Brexit vote.

When the Canadian announced he was leaving the bank in late 2019, Britain’s then-finance minister Sajid Javid said Carney had led “with conviction, rigour and intelligence.”

In a recent appearance on a Canadian comedy show, the host — listing the financial crisis, Brexit and Trump’s trade war — joked Carney might be to blame for the economic upheaval that trails him.

Laughing, Carney said: “It’s the other way around. I come in to fix these things.”

Technocrat

Reports that Carney had an interest in entering Canadian politics have circulated for years.

In January, after then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to resign, Carney launched a campaign to lead the Liberal Party.

Analysts questioned whether a technocrat with no experience in retail politics could energise a party facing dismal polls, as anger towards Trudeau surged after a decade in power.

Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull has noted Carney “doesn’t have a dynamic communication style.”

And yet he went on to win the Liberal party race, and the general election.

Carney had isolated stumbles during the campaign, but experts said his most effective moments were those when he assumed the role of prime minister and assailed Trump in front of a row of Canadian flags.

“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” Carney said last month after Trump unveiled his auto tariffs.

Personal wealth

After leaving the Bank of England, Carney wrote a book and became a United Nations adviser on climate change and finance.

He also returned to the private sector as chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, a major multinational Canadian company.

Carney faced tough questions about his private sector experience, including any role he played in helping Brookfield reduce its Canadian tax burden.

He also had tense exchanges with reporters when asked about his personal wealth.

Carney was pressed to disclose his assets, including what stocks he held, so voters could judge whether he faced any conflicts as prime minister.

He countered that he put all his assets in a blind trust, complying with Canada’s ethics rules.

“Look inside yourself,” he said to a reporter who pressed him last month on his decision not to disclose his assets.

“You start from a prior of conflict and ill will,” he charged.

“I have stood up for Canada. I have left my roles in the private sector at a time of crisis for our country.”

UNITED NATIONS: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom will not hesitate to reimpose sanctions against Tehran if European security is threatened by Iran’s nuclear programme, the French foreign minister said at the United Nations on Monday.

“Iran has crossed all the boundaries it had committed to respect,” and the country “is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons,” Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council on non-proliferation, which he had convened.

“There is no military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem. There is a diplomatic path to achieve it, but it is a narrow road,” he added.

Barrot voiced hope that the ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington on the issue would bear fruit, adding that France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were in “close contact” on the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The highest-level talks in years between long-time foes Washington and Tehran are targeting a new deal that would stop Iran developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from sanctions.

US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier, multilateral agreement on Iran during his first term.

“It goes without saying that upon the expiration of the Iranian nuclear deal… if European security interests are not guaranteed, we will not hesitate for a single second to reapply all the sanctions that were lifted 10 years ago,” Barrot warned.

Last week, Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.

The option to use the mechanism expires in October.

A return of sanctions would have “devastating effects on the country’s economy. This is not what we want, and that is why I solemnly call on Iran to take the necessary decisions today to avoid the worst,” said Barrot.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.

Speaking alongside Barrot, IAEA Director Rafael Grossi also stressed that an agreement with Iran was crucial.

“It’s not a matter of months or years, it’s perhaps a matter of weeks where the world can really come to something that is doable, is feasible, and above all, avoids the spectrum of more military conflicts,” he said.

OTTAWA: Canadians are heading to the polls today after an election campaign overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats. 

His comments, including talk of annexing Canada, sparked a surge of patriotism that has boosted support for Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, a political newcomer with experience of leading two major central banks.

The campaign ended on a sombre note on Sunday after a man rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens.

Carney briefly paused his campaign, and both he and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre mentioned the tragedy in their final campaign events. Duane Bratt, professor of political science at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, said he did not expect the mass casualty event to deter voters.

Carney’s Liberals held a 2.7-point lead over Poilievre’s Conservatives in national support, according to a CTV News-Globe and Mail-Nanos poll released on Sunday. Nanos pegged the Liberals at 42.6% support and the Conservatives at 39.9% in the poll.

An EKOS poll on Sunday suggested the Liberals hold a six-point lead, and projected the Liberals to win a majority of seats in the 343-seat House of Commons and not need to rely on a smaller party to govern.

Trump re-emerged as a campaign factor last week, declaring that he might raise a 25% tariff on Canadian-made cars because the US does not want them. He said earlier he might use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state.

“This is probably the most consequential election in my lifetime,” said Kelly Saunders, a political science professor at Brandon University. “Everything has been so overshadowed by the threats coming out of the United States.”

Carney has emphasised that his experience handling economic issues makes him the best leader to deal with Trump, while Poilievre has tapped into concerns about the cost of living, crime and a housing crisis.

Trump, in a social media post on Monday, reiterated his call for Canada to become the 51st state.

“Good luck to the Great people of Canada,” he said. “Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminium, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago.”

Poilievre, who has watched support for Carney surge in recent months as Trump mused about absorbing Canada, responded on social media to the president’s comment.

“President Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box,” Poilievre said.

Carney posted: “Elbows up, Canada. #Never51.” “Elbows up” is a hockey reference that Canadians have adopted as a slogan to stand up to Trump.

Carney has sought to distance himself from former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was deeply unpopular when he said in January he would resign after nearly a decade in power. The Conservatives led polls by some 20 points around that time.

Poilievre has attracted more young voters than usual for the Conservatives, focusing his campaign more on living costs and crime.

“I’m probably going to go Carney on this one just because right now, I feel like we need stability,” said Andy Hill, 37, a Vancouver-based mortgage broker. “Being in the English banking system and being in the Canadian banking system, he really understands the economy.”

Bob Lowe, a 66-year-old cattle rancher who lives south of Calgary, said he has already cast his ballot for the Conservatives. He said his top concern is Canada’s flagging economic growth.

The economy had seen a fledgling recovery until the US imposed tariffs.

Conservatives focus on economy

Lowe said the Conservatives have focused on the economy all along, and that he believes the Liberals have been stoking Canadians’ anxieties about Trump to win another term.

“Poilievre has managed to keep the focus on the economy and a strong Canada, and Carney’s campaign is based on fear. That’s it in a nutshell,” Lowe said.

Saunders, however, predicts the Liberals will win a majority of electoral districts, called seats, and says it would take a “magical scenario” for the Conservatives to pull off a victory. Tensions with the US have caused supporters of two smaller parties, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois, to shift to the Liberals.

A party needs to win 172 seats to form a majority government.

Much of the Conservative support is in rural areas where there are fewer seats.

Carney, who covered more than 20 cities in his last week of campaigning, has appeared tired but tried to maintain his exuberance at rallies, attended by 1,000 to 2,000 people, according to party figures.

Carney’s rallies have attracted mostly older Canadians and featured placards saying “Jamais Le 51” (“Never 51”) and “Un Canada Fort” (“A Strong Canada”).

Mentions of Trump have been loudly booed.

Poilievre’s rallies have been bigger and mentioned Trump less often.

Election results will trickle in, starting in eastern provinces, after polls close at staggered times on Monday evening. Ballots are counted by hand.

TEHRAN: Iran’s interior minister on Monday blamed “negligence” for a massive explosion that killed 65 people at the country’s largest commercial port, with firefighters still battling a blaze at the facility two days later.

The blast occurred on Saturday at the Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran’s south, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.

“Unfortunately, the death toll has reached 70 and the firefighting efforts are almost in final stages,” Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director of Hormozgan province, where the port is located, told state television.

Officials have said more than 1,000 people were injured with Hassanzadeh noting that most had already been released after treatment.

On Monday, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni told state TV that “culprits have been identified and summoned,” and that the blast was caused by “shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence.”

Momeni, who has been in the area since hours after the blast, stated that the “investigation is still underway.”

Iran’s state TV showed images of firefighters still dousing the flames Monday, and said the damage would be assessed after the fire was fully brought under control.

Heavy charcoal-black smoke continued to billow over low flames at part of the site, above which a firefighting helicopter flew, pictures from the Iranian Red Crescent showed.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a probe into the incident.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, but the port’s customs office said it likely resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.

CCTV images on social media showed it began gradually, with a small fire belching orange-brown smoke among a few containers stacked outside, across from a warehouse.

A small forklift truck drives past the area and men can be seen walking nearby.

About one minute after the small fire and smoke become visible, a fireball erupts as vehicles pass nearby, with men running for their lives.

President Masoud Pezeshkian visited hospitals treating the wounded on Sunday in the nearby city of Bandar Abbas.

Since the explosion, authorities have ordered all schools and offices in the area closed, and have urged residents to avoid going outside “until further notice” and to use protective masks.

The New York Times quoted a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, as saying that what exploded was sodium perchlorate — a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.

Defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik later told state TV that “there has been no imported or exported cargo for military fuel or military use in the area.”

Iran’s ally Russia has dispatched specialists to help battle the blazes.

Authorities have declared Monday a national day of mourning, while three days of mourning began Sunday in Hormozgan province.

The blast occurred as Iranian and US delegations were meeting in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

While Iranian authorities so far appear to be treating the blast as an accident, it also comes against the backdrop of years of shadow war with regional foe Israel.

According to The Washington Post, Israel launched a cyberattack targeting the Shahid Rajaee Port in 2020.