TEHRAN, Nov 12, (Agencies): A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday killed 17 Revolutionary Guards and wounded 15, a spokesman for the elite fighting force told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Officials said the blast was an accident which happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran.
The explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around, at a time of mounting tension with Israel over Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Today at 13:30, (0900 GMT), an explosion happened in one of the Revolutionary Guards’ bases while a consignment of explosive devices was being moved out from the arsenal, besides that some munitions in the arsenal exploded which created a terrifying sound,” Revolutionary Guards spokes-man Ramezan Sharif told state TV.
Sharif initially said 27 people had been killed but later revised that figure down to 17.
Residents in western suburbs of Tehran told Reuters they had felt the blast, some assuming it to be a moderate earthquake.
The explosion started a fire at the base which raged for hours. Surrounding streets were closed and reporters were kept away from the scene.
Some media reported there had been two explosions and the head of Iran’s Red Crescent organisation said there was a risk of further blasts.
Mahmoud Mozafar told the Mehr news agency that only six paramedics had been allowed into the Amir Al-Momenin military base and that thick smoke was hampering the rescue operation.
There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out attacking facilities whose occupants they believe are working towards making nuclear weapons.
Sharif denied what he said was speculation in the Western media that the military base was linked to Iran’s nuclear programme.
“This blast is not related to any nuclear tests that some foreign media have reported,” he told Mehr.
Tehran denies Western accusations, that were given some credence by a report from the UN nuclear agency this week, that its nuclear programme has military ends.
On Oct. 12 last year a similar blast at a Revolutionary Guards munitions store killed and wounded several servicemen in Khoramabad, western Iran. Authorities said that explosion was an accident too.
Strike
Turkey is against any military strike on Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday, warning that speculation risked destabilising the region.
“We do not think it is right even to talk of possible military intervention in the region.... We are against such intervention and believe it would create more instability,” Anatolia news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying in Ankara.
“It is unacceptable that countries suspected of having nuclear weapons cause new tensions in our region,” Davutoglu said, referring to Israel.
His comments came amid speculation that Israel could launch a strike on Iran with President Shimon Peres warning last weekend that an attack was becoming “more and more likely”.
Tehran responded by threatening to hit back against any attack or even the threat of military action.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meanwhile, made its hardest-hitting assessment yet about Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons drive.
“It is necessary to eliminate nuclear weapons not only in this or that country, but in the whole region,” Davtoglu added.
The Turkish foreign minister called on both Iran and the UN atomic agency to be “clear and open” in their allegations and responses.
An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities will only strengthen Tehran’s resolve to develop atomic weapons, Hans Blix, a former head of the UN atomic watchdog, warned in a new interview.
“I don’t think you can convince anyone to give up an atomic programme through the threat of violence,” Blix said in an interview with the Austrian news weekly Profil to be published on Monday.
“Rather, it will cause them to move even faster on it, in order to defend themselves,” he added, according to a short transcript in German of the interview.
Speculation has been rife that Israel may launch a strike on Iran with President Shimon Peres warning last weekend that an attack was becoming “more and more likely.”
“I think that would be really foolish,” Blix reacted in the Profil interview.
“First of all, nobody knows where all the atomic facilities are located. Secondly, I would be really surprised if Iran did not have prototypes and construction plans that it could fall back on after an attack.”
“Thirdly, if the decision to build a bomb has not yet been taken, a military strike would ensure more than ever that it is.”
Blix, a former UN weapons inspector, also defended a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which made its hardest-hitting assessment yet about Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons drive.
Tehran’s envoy to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh dismissed it this week as “politically motivated”, arguing it contained “false claims” based on information from Iran’s arch-foe the United States and other countries.
“I think the IAEA... did not just swallow what was dangled in front of it,” Blix countered.
“It is reporting honestly what evidence it has and that is making a strong impression,” he said.
On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Tehran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within.”
Impress
President Barack Obama will Saturday personally impress upon the leaders of Russia and China deep US concerns over a UN watchdog’s report that Iran has worked on nuclear weapons systems.
But Moscow and Beijing are cool to a US call for more sanctions on Tehran following the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency report which heightened fears of Israeli military action against Iranian nuclear sites.
Obama will get his first chance to discuss the report with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and China’s President Hu Jintao in his native Hawaii in bilateral meetings on the eve of an Asia-Pacific economic summit.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor, said Friday that the president would seek international consensus on new action against Tehran.
“I think the report just recently came out. I think everybody needs to take the time to review the report,” he said, when asked about vehement Russian criticism of the study.
“We will want to communicate directly with the Russians about our concerns with the report,” said Rhodes, who told reporters aboard Air Force One that Obama would also bring up the issue in talks with Hu.
Rhodes also signaled however that should UN Security Council permanent members Russia and China oppose further multi-lateral sanctions on Iran, Washington would seek to build support for sanctions elsewhere.
He said Washington would work with “likeminded states” to tighten a sanctions regime which US officials believe has brought the Iranian economy to a near standstill.
In a show-and-tell based on secret intelligence, the UN atomic agency shared satellite images, letters and diagrams with 35 nations Friday as it sought to underpin its case that Iran apparently worked secretly on developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s chief envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency rejected the presentation as based on material fabricated by the United States and its allies.
“There is no indication and proof that Iran’s activities is toward military purposes,” he told reporters, in comments that those inside the closed meeting showing the evidence said essentially matched his statement to that gathering.
Western diplomats, in contrast, said that the briefing was a convincing supplement to a report presented earlier this week.
Based on 1,000 pages of research and nearly a decade of probing Iran, that document included evidence that the agency says indicates the Islamic republic is working on the clandestine procurement of equipment and designs to make nuclear arms.
“While some of the activities identified in the annex have civilian as well as military applications, others are specific to nuclear weapons,” the report said.
Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test, and development of a nuclear payload for Iran’s Shahab 3 intermediate range missile — a weapon that can reach Israel.