Initial investigation indicates blast caused by a gas leak, but similar recent incidents have led to suspicions of drone attacks
\n Qom
\nAt least seven people have been injured in an explosion at a residential building on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom, according to several Iranian news outlets.
\nAt least five emergency vehicles were dispatched after Monday\u2019s blast to the Nasim Pardisan residential complex to attend to the injured, Iran\u2019s Student News Network (SNN) reported, quoting Dr Mohammad Javad Bagheri, head of Qom\u2019s Emergency Services.
\nThe state-affiliated Fars News Agency said the explosion happened at one of the buildings in the complex and damaged four residential units.
\nThe explosion shattered windows of neighbouring buildings, and firefighting and police forces were deployed to the site, according to Fars.
\nImages and videos posted on social media showed several damaged vehicles next to the building.
\nPreliminary investigations indicated a gas leak may have caused the incident, but a detailed probe is being carried out to ascertain the source of the blast, Fars reported.
\nIn recent days, some accounts on social media have linked such incidents across the country to last month\u2019s Israeli war against Iran.
\nFars quoted an unnamed official as saying people \u201cshould not worry about this narrative-building\u201d, adding that if any hostile acts were to occur, \u201cnews of it would immediately be announced to the public.\u201d
\nSimilar explosions have been recorded across Iran since the June 24 ceasefire, which led to speculation that Israeli drone strikes launched from inside Iran might be responsible for the incidents. But authorities have rejected such speculation.
\nThe latest incident came four days after an explosion occurred at a residential building in western Tehran\u2019s Chitgar suburb, which was extensively bombed during the 12-day war. Many high-rise buildings in that district were built by Iran\u2019s armed forces.
\nAuthorities said the Chitgar explosion, which injured at least seven people, was also caused by a gas leak.
\nThe next day, Iranian media reported the death of Ali Taeb, a senior Muslim scholar and veteran of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. No cause of death was provided, and officials have not commented.
\nTaeb was a former representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Sarallah Headquarters, the heart of the domestic security structure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a frequent target of Israeli attacks during the 12-day war.
\nHe was also brother to Hossein Taeb and Mehdi Taeb, two senior figures within Iran\u2019s theocratic establishment and the IRGC.
\nSeveral other explosions were also reported, including in the Janat Abad district of Tehran and another in western Iran\u2019s Kermanshah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Initial investigation indicates blast caused by a gas leak, but similar recent incidents have led to suspicions of drone attacks Qom At least seven people have been injured in an explosion at a residential building on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom, according to several Iranian news outlets. At least five emergency vehicles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-490311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n