World
Iran ‘blames Israel’ following wave of fires across the country
Officials have publicly attributed a number of explosions to ageing infrastructure and faulty appliances, reports suggest they are privately crying sabotage
July 23, 2025 12:58
Officials have publicly attributed a number of explosions to ageing infrastructure and faulty appliances, reports suggest they are privately crying sabotage
July 23, 2025 12:58Iranian officials are reportedly blaming Israel for a series of unexplained explosions and fires at apartment buildings, oil refineries, and factories across the country over the past two weeks.
While the regime has publicly downplayed the incidents - blaming them on ageing infrastructure, faulty appliances, and rubbish fires - privately, it is understood to be crying sabotage.
According to The New York Times, Iranian authorities believe the incidents are acts of arson, likely carried out by Israel. The report, based on interviews with four anonymous officials – three Iranians, including one from the IRGC, and a European diplomat involved with Iran – suggests that internal concern is mounting. None of the interviewees provided concrete evidence to back up their suspicions.
Tehran has, thus far, been careful not to publicly accuse Israel, since “Iran does not want to corner itself into having to retaliate," the report said.
Still, suspicion has reportedly been fuelled by past IDF operations and recent comments from Mossad Director David Barnea, who stated in late June that Israel’s intelligence agency would continue working inside Iran despite the end of the recent 12-day war between to two nations.
“We will be there, like we have been there,” he said. “We worked for months and years to do all the right actions to get to the right moment.”
Alarm was also raised by the fact that some of the explosions took place at strategic infrastructure sites, like a fire at the oil refinery in the southern city of Abadan – the largest in the Islamic Republic. The fire killed one and injured several others, as well as taking out a production line. Other explosions occurred in apartment buildings and factories.
The IRGC official claimed that the overall effect of these daily explosions has been contributing to a fast-growing anxiety among Iranian officials and the general public. Three of the four anonymous officials believed that the ongoing explosions were an act of sabotage.
Likewise, the European diplomat said they suspected that the Israeli involvement in these explosions was a form of ‘psychological warfare’ coupled with a mission to eliminate Iranian targets.
Yet, in seeking to soothe the public mood, Iranian officials have attributed the fires to a series of unfortunate coincidences.
For example, following a blaze near the Mashhad International Airport, an official claimed that it was started by the “controlled burning of weeds”. Most of the other fires have been attributed to gas leaks, with the director of Tehran’s fire and public safety departments, Ghodratollah Mohammadi, telling state media that these were due to “worn-out equipment, the use of substandard gas appliances and disregard for safety principles”.
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