Interesting, to say the least.
OTB has a round-up.
Via the AP/NYT: Iranian TV Reports Explosion Near Deylam
Iranian state television reported Wednesday that an explosion near the southwestern town of Deylam, about 110 miles from a nuclear facility, may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane. A government spokesman said the blast may have been caused by friendly fire.Rescue teams were sent to the area, state-run al-Alam television said, without providing details on casualties. The network provided few details of the blast, but it said officials in the area said the cause may have been a fuel tank dropped from a plane. It did not offer more details.
A spokesman for Iran’s Interior Ministry said the explosion was heard minutes after an Iranian airplane flew over the city and had not been caused by a hostile attack.
“An airplane flew over Deylam today. Minutes later, there was an explosion,'’ spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani told The Associated Press.
“But we have no reason to say it’s a hostile attack. There is a big possibility that it was a friendly fire by mistake. Several such mistaken friendly fire incidents have been reported there in recent days.'’
Khanjani said there was a military base at Bushehr and Iranian military aircraft routinely fly in that area.
Asked if military maneuvers were taking place in the region, he referred to the Defense Ministry, whose officials were not immediately available.
Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, quickly denied any connection with the explosion. In 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed a nuclear reactor the Iraqis were building near Baghdad.
Deylam, a port city in southwestern Iran, is north of the Bushehr nuclear facility.
I would be most surprised if this was actually some sort of attack.
The Iranian government has offered three different explanations in as many hours. Looks like they don’t really know what happened and are scrambling for an explanation.
Comment by Dave Schuler — Wednesday, February 16, 2024 @ 12:43 pm