Iran: Two Explosions Rock Gas Pipelines, Disrupt Supplies
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Two explosions at gas pipelines that officials are calling “sabotage and terrorist acts” have disrupted gas supplies to offices and industries across three provinces in Iran.
The blasts, in the provinces of Fars and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, were immediately labelled by authorities as acts of sabotage.
In an interview with state television, Saeed Aghli, the director of Iran’s Gas Network Dispatching Center, said the explosions occurred around 1 a.m. local time on February 14. He added that they targeted the country’s national gas lines but resulted in no casualties.
In response, authorities in Lorestan, Zanjan, and North Khorasan provinces announced cuts to gas supplies for offices and industries in order to prevent residential shortages. North Khorasan’s Crisis Management Office also closed all compressed natural gas fuel stations for 24 hours as a precaution.
Fattah Karami, the governor of Borujen, and the head of the fire department in Borujen, said an explosion occurred in the national gas pipeline in the “Halvaei Pass” area near Borujen.
Ismail Ghazalsafli, the political-security deputy governor for Fars Province announced the second explosion, saying it hit a gas pipeline in Khorrambid. There were no casualties.
Authorities said they are treating the explosions as sabotage, with initial investigations pointing toward deliberate attacks on the gas pipeline infrastructure.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incidents.
