Iran: Protests by the People of Bandar Abbas and Families of the Deceased and Missing — Blocking Access to the Port Route
On the morning of Saturday, May 3, 2025 — the eighth day following the Bandar Abbas disaster — a group of families and residents of Bandar Abbas staged a protest against the regime’s deliberate delay in announcing the true casualty figures and the names of the deceased, as well as addressing the status of the missing. Protesters blocked the route leading to the port. They held up photographs of their martyred and dear loved ones. Deprived even of receiving the bodies of their relatives, they cried out that they could no longer endure the regime’s lies, empty promises, and fruitless meetings of corrupt officials.
On Saturday morning, the regime released a drip-fed statement disclosing the identification of three additional victims. Meanwhile, the ruling religious fascism continues to shroud the full scope and details of the disaster in censorship, falsehoods, and secrecy. It has withheld even the most basic aid from the injured and the survivors, further intensifying the outrage among the grieving people of Bandar Abbas and neighboring areas.
On May 1, 2025, the state-run newspaper Jahan-e Sanat reported: “There is still no official data regarding the number of Baluch and Sistani individuals who died or went missing in the explosion at Rajaei Port. However, it is likely that some of them, having come from the outskirts and shantytowns around Zahedan and Khash, possessed no identification documents, and may not even be officially recognized after death.”
On April 27, 2025, the Security and Counterterrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran announced: “The explosion of containers occurred in the ‘Sina’ section of the warehouse belonging to the ‘Banagostar’ Company. These containers were filled with sodium perchlorate — a substance used in solid fuel for ballistic missiles. Banagostar is a subsidiary of the Sepehr Energy holding company, which operates under the regime’s Ministry of Defense. Sepehr Energy was sanctioned by OFAC on November 29, 2023.”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
3 May 2025