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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
What residents of Tehran heard and saw that fateful evening was the first in a series of mysterious incidents, all involving damage to sensitive locations in Iran, from military bases to industrial zones to historical sites. The location of the June 25th explosion was in fact a large Iranian military base. In the early 2000’s, allegations were leveled on the Ayatollahs by international media that Ira-
If this is in fact the case, it shows that the hardline approach to Iran taken by the Trump administration and Israel albeit each in its own way has escalated to a series of short of war targeted strikes, aimed at taking out important Iranian assets. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sought access to Parchin to investigate the site, Iranian officials flatly denied the nuclear watchdogs’ request. One bizarre incident at a shady military site linked to Iran’s nuclear program could plausibly be dismissed
the event drew suspicion as officials could not agree as to what triggered the blast. The Tehran prosecutor’s office told media sources the cause of the accident was the explosion of three oxygen capsules inside the clinic. But a senior police official said the investigation pointed to a “gas leak”
and “a faulty electrical wire” as the source of the incident. Over the next week and a half, Iran experienced one strange destructive episode after another. A large fire consumed swaths of public gardens in the city of Shiraz on July 3rd. The following morning a power plant in the city of Ahwaz, the capital of Khuzestan, caught fire when a transformer exploded. Later that same day, a chlorine gas leak and fire was reported at the Karun petrochemical center in the southwestern city of Mahshahr. Some seventy workers were reported sickened by the gas and required hospitalization. Three days later on July 7 th, a factory blew up in southern Tehran. According to reports, faulty oxygen canisters were responsible for the blast. Local governor Amin Babaei stated the incident was the result of employee negligence, accusing factory workers of being “careless.”
Connecting the Dots By the time Iran experienced its fourth explosion in the span of a week, observers began to question the regime’s dismissive attitude. The conversation on the string of “accidents” went where all substantive conversation on Iran policy is forced to take place - social media. Today, there are still a few platforms on which Iranians can be frank about the developments in their country. Accusations on the source of fires and explosions have been abound on chat forums and communication apps. Many posters have leveled accusations on the regime itself, some
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
A String of Accidents
as the accident Iranian officials claim it was. Seven incidents is a different story. Four days after the blast in Parchin, another explosion took place, this time within the residential area of Tehran itself. On June 30th, an explosion at a medical clinic in the north of the capital was heard at around 9:00pm. According to reports, nineteen people were killed in the ensuing fire and another fourteen injured. Almost immediately,
JULY 23, 2020
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n 25 June, what was otherwise a normal night in the Iranian capital of Tehran, was suddenly and without warning rudely interrupted. At about midnight local time, a massive explosion was heard throughout the city. To the east, Terhanians saw the sky light up a bright orange as the conflagration caused by the blast began to consume surrounding structures. The following morning, regime-owned media published a report that the explosion was the result of a malfunctioned gas tank in the Parchin state administrative zone located about 40 kilometers east of Tehran. No injuries occurred, but the damage was reportedly quite extensive. Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Davoud Abdi told reporters that firefighters eventually managed to bring the blaze under control and investigations were under way to determine the cause.
nian technicians at Parchin were testing highly explosive components for a nuclear warhead. At the time, Iran unequivocally denied any nuclear-related activity at the base. “Parchin is a military site where conventional military activities take place,” said then Foriegn Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. “Comments about cleaning up military nuclear tests are not accurate or wise. This is invalid propaganda.” However, when inspectors from the
