The Jerusalem Post April 27, 2025
Key ingredient in missile fuel was chemical that exploded at Iran port

The New York Times quotes a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, saying that sodium perchlorate — a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles — was the chemical that exploded yesterday in Bandar Abbas.

The death toll from a massive blast at Iran’s largest commercial port has risen to 25, and over 800 people were injured, according to the Tasnim news agency, which cited Hormozgan province’s head of the judiciary, Mojtaba Ghahremani.

"This location and port are extremely critical to the survival of the Iranian regime," according to Beni Sabti, an expert Iran researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

The port that blew up in the southern Iranian city of "is the most important port for the Iranian regime," said Sabti in a Sunday Maariv interview.
Sabti also remarked on the magnitude of the explosion, calling the "damage very severe."

Sabti explained that the reason for the port's importance is "not only because it's the largest port in Iran, but because the hub is used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to transfer weapons to terror organizations like Hezbollah and the Houthis, and to illegally transfer oil to China."

Sabti addressed the claims that the explosion was attributed to Israel, saying, "It's common and widespread for some Iranian regime-affiliated figures to blame Israel. Officially, however, the regime is refraining from doing so – possibly because it’s not in their interest at this time."