An explosion hit a natural gas pipeline in Iran early Wednesday, with an official blaming the explosion on “an act of sabotage and terrorism” in the country as tensions remain high in the Middle East amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Details are scarce, though the explosion involved a natural gas pipeline from Iran’s western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces north to the city on the Caspian Sea. The roughly 790-mile pipeline begins at Asaluyeh, the hub for Iran’s offshore South Pars gas field.
Saeed Aghli, manager of Iran’s gas network control center, told Iranian state television that acts of “sabotage and terrorism” caused explosions along several areas of the line.
There are no known rebel groups operating in the region, home to the Bakhtiari, a branch of Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
Aghli did not name any suspects in the blast.
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji, also speaking on state TV, compared the attack to a series of mysterious and unclaimed attacks on gas pipelines in 2011 — including around the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Flames shoot into the air after a natural gas pipeline exploded outside the town of Boroujen in western Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces, early Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. AP
Tehran marks the 45th anniversary of the revolution on Sunday.
“The goal pursued by the enemy is to cut off gas in the main region of the country and it did not happen,” said Owji.
“Except for the number of villages close to gas transmission lines, no region has experienced cuts.”
An explosion hit a natural gas pipeline in Iran early Wednesday, with an official blaming the explosion on “an act of sabotage and terrorism” in the country as tensions remain high in the Middle East amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. AP
In the past, Arab separatists in southwestern Iran have claimed attacks on oil pipelines. However, attacks elsewhere in Iran against such infrastructure are rare.
Since the revolution, Iran has faced low-level separatist unrest from the Kurds in the northwest of the country, the Baluch in the east and the Arabs in the southwest.
However, tensions have risen in recent years as Iran faces an economy crippled by international sanctions over its nuclear program.
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The country has faced mass demonstrations for years, most recently in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died in custody after her arrest was allegedly over the way she wore her compulsory veil.
Meanwhile, Israel has carried out attacks on Iran mostly targeting its nuclear program.
On Tuesday, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned that Iran was “not fully transparent” about its atomic program, especially after an official who once headed Tehran’s program announced the Islamic Republic had all the weapons “in our hands. .”
Tensions over Iran’s nuclear program come as groups that Tehran arms in the region – Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and Yemen’s Houthi rebels – have launched attacks targeting Israel over the war in Gaza.
The Houthis continue to attack commercial shipping in the region, prompting repeated airstrikes from the United States and the United Kingdom.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
