• Tasnim news agency rejects reports of IRCG official targeting.
• Iranian media says govt investigation cause of explosion.
• Blast comes amid heightened tensions Tehran and Washington.
  

An explosion occurred at Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, Iranian media reported, without giving a cause for the blast.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the explosion were “completely false”.

Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information. Iranian authorities could not immediately be contacted for comment.

The port of Bandar Abbas lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

The reported explosion comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the government.

At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said an “armada” was heading toward Iran. Multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused US, Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, inciting unrest and providing people with the means to “tear the nation apart”.

Despite repeated threats of military action against Iran, Trump predicted that Tehran would seek to negotiate a deal rather than face American military action.

“I can say this, they do want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.

Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter talks on its nuclear and missile programmes, Trump said “yeah, I have,” but refused to say what it was.

“We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading towards Iran right now,” Trump said, referring to a US naval carrier group in waters off Iran.

• Iranian army chief says attack would endanger Israel’s security.
• Armed forces “at full defensive and military readiness”: Hatami.
• Centcom warns IRGC against “unsafe behaviour” near US forces.

Iranian army chief Amir Hatami on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against an attack, saying his country’s forces were on high alert following Washington’s heavy military deployments in the Gulf.

He also insisted the Tehran’s nuclear expertise could not be eliminated, after Trump said he expected Tehran to seek a deal to avoid US strikes.

“If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He noted that Iran’s armed forces were “at full defensive and military readiness”.

Washington sent a naval strike group to the Middle East led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, with Trump threatening to intervene militarily in the two weeks of anti-government protests.

The deployment has raised fears of a possible direct confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies — notably Israel — in the event of an attack.

On Friday, Trump said he predicted that Iran would seek to negotiate a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes rather than face American military action.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said earlier that Tehran was ready for nuclear talks, but its missiles and defence “will never be negotiated”.

‘Nuclear technology cannot be eliminated’

The US carried out strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in June when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.

Israeli attacks also hit military sites across the country and killed senior officers and top nuclear scientists.

But Hatami on Saturday insisted that Iran’s nuclear technology “cannot be eliminated, even if scientists and sons of this nation are martyred”.

On Friday, US Central Command (Centcom) said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.

In a statement, Centcom warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behaviour near US forces”.

The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2019, a move the European Union followed on Thursday.

The EU decision drew angry reactions from Tehran, which vowed to reciprocate.

Protests

Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living erupted in Iran on December 28, before turning into a broader anti-government movement that peaked on January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities have said the protests began peacefully before turning into “riots” involving killings and vandalism, blaming the United States and Israel for fomenting the unrest in a “terrorist operation”.

The official death toll from the authorities stands at 3,117.

The protests have since subsided.

On Saturday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged his government to heed public grievances after the demonstrations.

“We must work with the people and for the people and serve the people as much as possible,” Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast on state TV.

“If we act justly, the people will see it and will accept it, and under such conditions, no power can cripple a government, a society, or a nation that acts justly, fairly, and on the basis of rights.”

On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited the shrine of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, in southern Tehran.

In a video carried by his official website, Khamenei offered prayers at the shrine on the occasion of 10-day celebrations marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Revolution.

A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.

President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.

Here are key details about mentions of the celebrities, none of whom has been accused of wrongdoing:

Donald Trump

The files included an FBI-compiled list of sexual assault allegations related to President Donald Trump — many of them involving anonymous callers and unverified tips.

The allegations, some secondhand, were sent to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, which receives information by phone and electronically.

The document suggests that investigators followed up on a number of the tips. Some were deemed to lack credibility.

Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

The Justice Department said in a statement accompanying Friday’s file dump: “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false.”

Bill Gates

In a draft email among the documents, Epstein alleged Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs.

Epstein wrote in the email that his relationship with Gates had ranged from “helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women.”

The Gates Foundation, in a statement to The New York Times, denied the allegations of affairs.

Richard Branson

Files show friendly relations between the two billionaires.

Branson wrote in an email sent to Epstein on Sept 11, 2013: “It was really nice seeing you yesterday. The boys in Watersports can’t stop speaking about it! Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”

A representative for Branson’s company said on Friday that “any contact Richard and Joan Branson had with Epstein took place on only a few occasions more than twelve years ago, and was limited to group or business settings,” according to US media reports.

“Richard believes that Epstein’s actions were abhorrent and supports the right to justice for his many victims,” the representative said.

Elon Musk

The files contain numerous exchanges between Epstein and billionaire entrepreneur Musk.

Epstein sent Musk an email in November 2012 asking “how many people will you be for the heli to island.”

“Probably just Talulah and me. What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” Musk replied.

Musk said in a post on X responding to the revelations he “was well aware that some email correspondence with (Epstein) could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.”

“I don’t care about that, but what I do care about is that we at least attempt to prosecute those who committed serious crimes with Epstein, especially regarding heinous exploitation of underage girls,” Musk wrote.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

The disgraced former prince invited Epstein to visit him at Buckingham Palace in September 2010 while the financier was making a trip to London.

An email exchange shows Epstein contacting Andrew to ask: “What time would you like me […] we will also need […] private time.”

Andrew replied: “we could have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy.”

Andrew made the offer after Epstein proposed a month earlier introducing him to a 26-year-old Russian woman, according to the documents.

The former prince said he “would be delighted to see her,” although there is no suggestion in the material that any meeting took place.

Howard Lutnick

Emails show that Epstein and businessman Lutnick — currently Trump’s commerce secretary — made plans in December 2012 to lunch on Epstein’s Caribbean Island.

“We are heading towards you from St. Thomas” Lutnick’s wife wrote to Epstein’s secretary, asking where they should anchor.

Steve Tisch

Several mails suggested Epstein connected Steve Tisch, the 76-year-old producer of the movies “Forrest Gump” and “Risky Business” and the co-owner of the New York Giants football team, with multiple women.

In one exchange with Tisch, Epstein describes a woman as “Russian, and rarely tells the full truth, but fun.”