Officials say no further threat to public after blast heard near main research facility in north-west of country
An explosion was heard near the site of Iran’s uranium enrichment complex on Monday evening local time, in the wake of a major blast on Saturday which is being investigated as a possible chemical reaction.
Ali Bagheri, the public relations representative of the Revolutionary Guards, said no one was hurt in the blast and that there was no sign that the gas explosion was linked to the high-speed detonation that was triggered Saturday.
“Experts and surveillance teams are on site and don’t see anything in the area which is harmful,” Bagheri told Iranian TV.
The report of the explosion came hours after state TV aired footage of two men in civilian clothes who live nearby, one of whom said he found the remains of a car that had been hit by a projectile apparently from an air-strike.
An explosion in an industrial area of Natanz, north-west of Tehran, was heard at around 5pm local time (1am BST) and saw lights flash and smoke rise from some corners of the site. The location of the explosion is well north of the main Natanz reactor.
“The blast happened in a section of the building where very special work is taking place,” said Bagheri.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, urged authorities on Monday to stay the course in their investigations.
“Loyal military and all officials in charge should clear away all illusions about so-called missile development and act decisively and persistently in applying the law as ordered by high judicial authorities so that those responsible for what has happened are brought to justice,” Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.
The commander of the Guard’s aerospace force, Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who flew to the site on Sunday, said a cloud of dust and small particles had prevented proper observation.
An explosion has been heard near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Photograph: AP
The Guardian reported on Saturday that Iran suspects that a launch of the Fateh ballistic missile was a possible chemical reaction which took place after a missile explosion at Iran’s Shahid Nozad air base near Tehran.
Iran’s defence minister, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, said on Friday that the missile, named Shahrvand, was developed for use in Iran’s missile programme, and was not designed to be used as a ballistic missile.
But after Saturday’s explosion, Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying that the Fateh missile, with a range of 2,000km, was “a definite weapon of the Iranian armed forces” and that they would keep developing them.
On Sunday, Iranian media quoted Majid Takht-Ravanchi, an official at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, as saying: “This country is capable of producing … long-range ballistic missiles in a very short time and this will be displayed at an official ceremony next month.”
Iran will display the missiles on 25 August, and at a separate exhibition of the country’s military might in October, he said.