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Iranian state-media reported that a large fire and a strong explosion rocked Zarand Iranian Steel Company in Zarand in Kerman Province in eastern Iran on 5 June 2021. The fire was caused by melted steel coming out of the furnace. The accident did not cause any casualties and the fire was brought under control. The fire only damaged the cables around the furnace site.
The Zarand Iranian Steel Company is part of Middle East Mines and Mineral Industries Development Holding Company MIDHCO, which was placed under sanctions by the Trump administration earlier this year.
A recent series of fires and explosions across Iran have raised suspicions over whether these incidents are accidents or acts of sabotage. Iran suspects the latter and blames arch-rival Israel for being behind them.
Three days earlier, a major fire tore through the Tehran Oil Refining Company in the outskirts of the Iranian capital. Another explosion followed by a fire sank Iran’s largest naval vessel in the Sea of Oman, near it shores, on June 2. On May 23, nine people were injured in another blast at a plant producing explosive materials in central Iran, while three days later, a pipeline explosion at a petrochemical complex near Iran's Gulf coast left one dead.