BBC
Five people have been killed in two separate explosions in Iran that local authorities and state media said were caused by gas leaks.
One person was killed and 14 others injured in an explosion at a residential building in the southern Gulf coast town of Bandar Abbas, a local official told Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
Another explosion killed four people in the southwestern town of Ahvaz, the Tehran Times, a state-run newspaper, reported.
It comes as tensions persist in the region following the buildup of US forces in the Gulf and pressure from President Donald Trump for Tehran to reach a deal on its nuclear program – who said on Saturday that Iran was “talking” to Washington.
In the port city of Bandar Abbas, state television said the explosion ripped through an eight-story building, “destroying two floors, several vehicles and shops” in the Moallem Boulevard area.
Local fire department chief Mohammad Amin Liaqat said a preliminary assessment showed the fire was caused by a gas leak and “buildup.”
“My colleagues will provide more details in the coming hours,” he said in a video posted by Mehr.
Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, a regional official, told the news agency that the injured had been taken to hospital.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency denied reports on social media that a naval commander in the Revolutionary Guard Corps was targeted by the explosion.
Separately, the Tehran Times reported a second explosion in a residential building in the Kianshahr district of Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq.
He reported that emergency services rescued a child trapped under the rubble and transferred him for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Trump said Iran was “talking to us” as tensions persist between the two countries, without providing details.
“They are negotiating,” he said on Fox News, while adding that Washington could not share its plans with its Gulf allies.
“We’ll see if we can do anything, if not we’ll see what happens…we have a big fleet heading there.”
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said conflict would not be in the interest of any country or the region as a whole.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought and does not seek war under any circumstances,” he said in a call with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the AFP news agency reported, citing a statement from the Iranian presidency.
Separately, Supreme National Security Council Chairman Ali Larijani met with the Qatari Prime Minister in Tehran on Saturday and “reviewed ongoing efforts to defuse tensions in the region,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.
Larijani, who the Kremlin said had also met Russian President Putin for talks on Friday, wrote on X: “Contrary to the hype of the artificial media war, the structural arrangements for the negotiations are progressing.”
Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran was open to negotiations with the United States provided they were based on trust and respect, but warned its missile defense system would “never” be the subject of negotiations.
Trump said in Tehran on Wednesday that time was “running out” to reach an agreement on its nuclear program – which Iran insists is peaceful – and later said he must also “stop killing protesters” to avoid military action.
This came after he promised to intervene to help those involved in the country’s brutal crackdown on protests earlier this month, although he later said he had heard from reliable sources that executions of protesters had stopped.
The US news agency Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed the killing of more than 6,300 people since the unrest began in late December and is investigating another 17,000 reported deaths.
