ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The death toll from a devastating explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the Iranian coastal city of Bandar Abbas on Sunday has climbed to 28, according to state-affiliated media and NGOs.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) media affiliate Tasnim News Agency on Sunday reported that “at least 25” people had been killed, with other reports by state media giving a figure of over 800 wounded.

The Red Crescent later updated this figure to 28.

The cause of the explosion, which came on the same day as the third round of highly vaunted nuclear talks between Iran and the US in Oman, is believed to have come as a result of an accident arising from a chemical used in missiles that was stored in a warehouse near the port.

Iran's defense ministry, however, has denied that any military materials were present.

Tasnim News Agency reported that the port’s Customs Office had released a statement implying that a fire in the hazardous materials storage depot caused the explosion.

The timing of the accident is likely to raise some eyebrows in Tehran, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi only some days earlier warning of prospective sabotage operations seeking to prevent a potential nuclear deal with the US.

In a statement on X, Araghchi called out an Israeli attempt to “derail diplomacy,” warning that Iranian “security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations.”

The Shahid Rajaee port is a key economic juncture for Iran; located near the Strait of Hormuz, it plays a salient role in the country’s maritime trade.

Updated at 13:33 with new death toll