Repeated Explosions and Widespread Fire in Garmsar; Red Crescent: High Likelihood of Further Explosions

Repeated explosions and a widespread fire in an industrial town in Garmsar on the afternoon of Monday, October 2, drew Red Crescent forces and emergency response teams from Semnan province to the area. Some important missile centers of the Islamic Republic are located in this region. Hossein Derakhshan, the CEO of the Red Crescent Society of Semnan province, told the IRNA news agency that a report of an explosion at a workshop in the Fajr industrial town of Garmsar was received at 3:30 PM, and "smoke from a large fire is visible over the industrial town." The report did not mention details or reasons for the explosions, nor the extent of casualties and damages caused. According to the head of medical sciences in Semnan, the explosions have left 22 injured, with 11 of them transferred to medical facilities. The Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, confirmed at least three explosions in this incident and quoted Hamid Majidi, the head of the Red Crescent in Garmsar, stating that "the volume of fire is high." According to this report, this official mentioned that the oil factory that caught fire contains "12 tanks of oil condensate" and that "the likelihood of further explosions is high." This is not the first time that a fire and explosion in the Fajr industrial town of Garmsar has made headlines. In June of this year, a production unit in the Fajr industrial town in Garmsar, Semnan province, suffered a "widespread fire," and reports indicated that "the volume of fire was so large that smoke from it was visible for kilometers." Furthermore, the Garmsar county in Semnan province, adjacent to Tehran, houses about half of the province's industrial units and contains three industrial towns: Ivanki, Fajr, and Paytakht. Additionally, some important missile centers of the Islamic Republic are located in Semnan province. There have been previous instances of concealment regarding the causes of incidents occurring in various parts of Iran, raising suspicions about the military's covert activities and productions in industrial towns. In October of last year, two fires occurred six days apart at a facility affiliated with the Ministry of Defense in Nobonyad Square in northern Tehran, and officials attributed the source to "waste and debris." Meanwhile, the lack of safety in work environments in Iran, amid the negligence of Islamic Republic officials, has repeatedly endangered workers' lives. In one of the most recent incidents, dozens of miners lost their lives in an explosion at a mine in Tabas.