A gas leak in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard center kills 2 and injures 10

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This article was published 29/08/2024 (464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A gas leak caused the death of two people and injured 10 others at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard center, Iranian state television reported Thursday.

The leak occurred Wednesday night at a workshop belonging to the Guard in Isfahan province, and the injured people were transferred to a hospital for treatment, it said.

The Isfahan Provincial Guard identified the dead as Capt. Mojtaba Nazari and Lt. Col. Mokhtar Morshedi, the report said.

The Guard’s statement did not say if the two senior officers died from being asphyxiated by gas or if the gas leak caused an explosion. It did not say how the people were injured or give other details.

A number of deadly explosions at Revolutionary Guard facilities have in recent years. The most notable came in 2011, when a blast at a missile base near Tehran killed 17 people including Commander Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, who led the paramilitary force’s missile program. Initially, authorities described the blast as an accident, though a former prisoner later said the Guard interrogated him on suspicion that Israel caused the explosion.

Tensions have remained high since Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed on July 31 in the Iranian capital.

Iran accused Israel of killing Haniyeh, but Israel has not taken responsibility. Iranian top officials vowed to retaliate against Israel for the death of Haniyeh.

Israeli officials rarely acknowledge operations carried out by the country’s secret military units or its Mossad intelligence agency. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long considered Iran to be the biggest threat his nation faces.

In April, Iranian air defenses at a major air base and at a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan were employed against an assault in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel.

In January 2023, bomb-carrying drones struck a defense factory in the central city of Isfahan, while in April 2023, the country’s air defense systems shot down a drone strike on an Isfahan defense factory.

Tehran faces challenges as its nuclear program rapidly enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels since the collapse of its atomic accord with world powers.

Iran’s central Isfahan province has been of interest to Israel because many of Iran’s nuclear facilities are located there. The underground Natanz nuclear facility, located in the province, is the country’s main uranium enrichment facility. There, centrifuges rapidly spin uranium hexafluoride gas to enrich uranium.

Iran sees Israel as a prime suspect in launching a series of attacks on Iran, including an April 2021 assault on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges. In 2020, Iran blamed Israel for a sophisticated attack that killed its top military nuclear scientist.