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The catastrophic explosion at Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas has not only left dozens dead and hundreds injured but has brutally exposed the Iranian regime’s true priorities: preserving its own survival at all costs, rather than addressing the human and economic devastation.
State media, particularly Kayhan, swiftly seized on the tragedy, not to mourn the victims or address safety failures, but to escalate warnings about internal “traitors” and foreign “psychological warfare.” In a telling editorial, Kayhan focused on commentary by former intelligence interrogator-turned-political activist Abbas Abdi, who had pointed to the explosion as evidence of the growing rift between the people and the state.
In the rebroadcasted analysis originally shared via Ham Mihan, Abdi had warned: “The Bandar Abbas explosion, whether caused by negligence or sabotage, demands a thorough review of security protocols — and more importantly, a rethinking of the general policies that have created the conditions for such disasters.”
He bluntly stated that sabotage and betrayal are facilitated not just by external enemies but by “domestic weaknesses,” including political disillusionment and social alienation — an admission that strikes at the very heart of regime stability.
A massive explosion at Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas, a key commercial hub for Iran’s regime, has left over 750 injured and 8 dead. As hazardous materials ignite, the true scale of the disaster remains unclear. #Iran pic.twitter.com/9KZtnf5Oha
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) April 26, 2025
However, Kayhan weaponized Abdi’s remarks to amplify its broader narrative: Iran’s vulnerability is the fault of “traitors” within who lack national loyalty, not the failure of governance. The newspaper labeled Abdi a “sellout” and accused him of projecting his own “treachery,” denouncing his call for policy reform as “idiotic and malicious.”
In an extraordinary passage, Kayhan stated: “The explosion cannot merely be blamed on the malice of foreigners. It fundamentally stems from our own security, intelligence, and political weaknesses,” only to then pivot and portray these weaknesses as the fault of supposed fifth columnists, rather than of the system itself.
Saeed Shariati, another regime insider turned “reformist”, emphasized that with customs transparency and widespread surveillance at the port, it would be impossible for the regime to hide the truth. Yet he also warned that without genuine transparency, the government would deepen the already severe public distrust.
This internal contradiction — acknowledging catastrophic vulnerabilities while simultaneously attacking those who highlight them — reveals the regime’s deeper fear: that the social fractures are too wide, the loyalty too thin, and the discontent too volatile to contain indefinitely.
Report: Catastrophic Explosions at #BandarAbbas Port Reveal #Iran's Regime Negligence and Economic Fragilityhttps://t.co/H25EmJ9hHj
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 27, 2025
Meanwhile, outlets like Ham Mihan offered a far more sober assessment. They noted that the public’s readiness to believe in sabotage scenarios — whether true or not — reflects a profound erosion of trust in official narratives and the chronic failures of the state to manage crises transparently.
Even former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh warned that the Bandar Abbas incident was a glaring indictment of civil defense negligence, arguing: “Such concentrations of flammable materials without proper safeguards would not be tolerated anywhere else in the world.”
Yet the regime’s dominant concern was not the devastating human or economic cost, but the urgent need to prevent the incident from spiraling into political unrest. In another piece today, April 28, Kayhan obsessively warned of “foreign media psychological operations,” insisting that the real threat was not the explosion itself but the narrative war waged by Western outlets. Maintaining “national morale” and “unity” was portrayed as a priority far above transparency, accountability, or justice for the victims.
Aerial footage from Bandar Abbas reveals the scale of devastation after yesterday’s explosion. Thousands of containers burned, infrastructure destroyed. Evidence points to mishandling of rocket fuel imports by the regime. The port has turned into a disaster zone. #Iran pic.twitter.com/vo7P1EgJxf
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) April 27, 2025
At the same time, Etemad revealed how the explosion exposed deep mismanagement at Rajaee Port — from hazardous materials stored unsafely to basic safety standards ignored. Yet lawmakers’ calls for investigations were less about genuine reform than damage control, aimed at defusing public anger. Even as negligence was admitted, the regime’s overriding priority remained managing the fallout, not confronting the systemic failures that made such a disaster inevitable.
This reaction lays bare a grim reality: in today’s Iran, every accident, every disaster, every minor spark of dissent is treated not merely as a crisis, but as an existential threat — not because foreign plots are omnipresent, but because the regime knows its own foundations are dangerously unstable.
As Setareh Sobh emphasized, the economic blow alone is catastrophic: Bandar Abbas accounts for the majority of Iran’s containerized trade and a significant portion of its oil and non-oil exports. Yet amid the physical wreckage, it is the exposed political fragility that may leave the deepest and most enduring scars.
The Bandar Abbas explosion is not just a tragedy. It is a mirror reflecting a regime paralyzed by fear, hollowed out by incompetence, and increasingly incapable of concealing the deepening cracks that every new crisis lays bare.