Blast at housing complex near Iran’s Qom city injures several people

Initial investigation indicates blast caused by a gas leak, but similar recent incidents have led to suspicions of drone attacks.

At least seven people have been injured in an explosion at a residential building on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom, according to several Iranian news outlets.

At least five emergency vehicles were dispatched after Monday’s blast to the Nasim Pardisan residential complex to attend to the injured, Iran’s Student News Network (SNN) reported, quoting Dr Mohammad Javad Bagheri, head of Qom’s Emergency Services.

The state-affiliated Fars News Agency said the explosion happened at one of the buildings in the complex and damaged four residential units.

The explosion shattered windows of neighbouring buildings, and firefighting and police forces were deployed to the site, according to Fars.

Images and videos posted on social media showed several damaged vehicles next to the building.

Translation: An explosion in one of the residential complexes in Qom’s Pardisan left seven people injured.

According to the emergency services and fire department, the incident occurred on Monday morning and the probable cause was a gas leak.

Fars quoted an unnamed official as saying people “should not worry about this narrative-building”, adding that if any hostile acts were to occur, “news of it would immediately be announced to the public.”

Similar explosions have been recorded across Iran since the June 24 ceasefire, which led to speculation that Israeli drone strikes launched from inside Iran might be responsible for the incidents. But authorities have rejected such speculation.

The latest incident came four days after an explosion occurred at a residential building in western Tehran’s Chitgar suburb, which was extensively bombed during the 12-day war. Many high-rise buildings in that district were built by Iran’s armed forces.

Authorities said the Chitgar explosion, which injured at least seven people, was also caused by a gas leak.

The next day, Iranian media reported the death of Ali Taeb, a senior Muslim scholar and veteran of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. No cause of death was provided, and officials have not commented.

Several other explosions were also reported, including in the Janat Abad district of Tehran and another in western Iran’s Kermanshah.