Iran, Israel, the US, Russia, and China are interconnected by rumors of cyberattacks and sabotage
By Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Marashi | –
Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – As negotiations between Iran and the United States entered a critical third round, an unexpected disaster struck one of Iran’s most vital logistical arteries. Shahid Rajaee Port, located in Bandar Abbas along the strategic Strait of Hormuz, was rocked by a series of explosions earlier this week, leaving nearly 40 people dead and injuring more than 2,000 others.
The incident has reignited speculation about external sabotage, as the explosion targeted a facility crucial for Iran’s commercial, fuel, and military operations — at a time when geopolitical tensions are once again peaking.
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Some in the Iranian state may attribute the explosion to an Israeli sabotage operation to Israel, as Netanyahu has repeatedly his opposition to any potential between Iran and the United States and could actively seek to undermine the negotiation process. It will be difficult for elites in the Islamic Republic to view this event as a mere accident, given the Port was once targeted by an alleged Israeli cyberattack in 2020 in retaliation for an alleged Iranian cyberattack on Israel’s water distribution system, and a cyber attack hit Iran Sunday, just a day after the port explosion.
Explosion at Bandar Abbas 4/26/2025. Via Tasnim News. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Given the strategic importance of Shahid Rajaee Port for Iran’s foreign trade, energy exports, and military operations, it highlights how regional and international developments are deeply interconnected, and how past sabotage operations in Iran can cast long shadows over diplomatic efforts in Oman.
Initial Speculations and Official Denials
Iran has reason to be wary of Israel infiltrating its infrastructure. The most famous case was Stuxnet, the world’s first digital weapon, when Israel was able to destroy parts of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility in 2010 with a malicious digital code known as Stuxnet. This code on a USB drive caused nuclear centrifuges to accelerate to the point that they destroyed themselves.
Iran also reason to believe its oil and gas infrastructure might have been sabotaged given past precedents. Around 2017 to 2018, the al-Ahwaz National Resistance, an umbrella movement for Arab separatist groups, had sabotage of Iran’s pipeline facilities, usually at night. They have been inactive, and the greatest ethnic group to threaten the Islamic Republic are Baluch separatists operating in the far east of Iran.
In 2021, Israel was blamed for a large cyber attack on Iranian petrol stations, followed by a larger 2023 cyber attack that disrupted about 70% of petrol stations, launched by a group called “Predatory Sparrow,” retaliating for “the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region.”
Initial reports on the most recent port explosion pointed to a possible ignition of solid fuels imported from China, believed to be used in Iran’s ballistic missile programs. However, Iranian officials quickly moved to deny any connection between the blasts and missile-related materials, attempting to contain rumors that could have escalated internal panic or given international adversaries further ammunition.
Instead, according to the most recent findings, the fire and subsequent explosions appear to have originated from detonations inside stockpiles of petrochemical materials stored at the port. These initial explosions rapidly spread to nearby containers, feeding a firestorm that proved difficult to contain.
Iranian authorities have not ruled out sabotage, and sources suggest that handmade explosive devices may have been pre-embedded in the facility, designed to trigger a cascading disaster.
A Critical Blow to the North-South Corridor
Beyond its domestic importance, Bandar Abbas — and Shahid Rajaee harbor in particular — are essential components of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multi-nation project aimed at reinforcing Iran-Russia relations and facilitating Russia’s access to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
The corridor was envisioned as a vital trade route connecting Russia to India and the broader Asian markets, bypassing Western-controlled maritime chokepoints.
The destruction at Shahid Rajaee Port is likely to delay the project for years, dealing a heavy blow to Iran’s aspirations of becoming a central hub in Eurasian logistics. It also complicates Russia’s efforts to secure alternative trade routes amid its deepening isolation from Europe due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
It is not surprising that the electric outage in Spain and Portugal on Monday April 28 led to speculation that Russia might have been behind a cyberattack.
The images from Bandar Abbas drew immediate comparisons to the catastrophic 2020 Beirut port explosion, which devastated much of Lebanon’s capital. However, while the Shahid Rajaee blast was relatively smaller in scale, it still inflicted remarkable damage. The financial toll is estimated to exceed one billion dollars, with some projections placing the figure as high as five billion, once long-term infrastructure rehabilitation and trade losses are fully accounted for.
The port, which handles a significant portion of Iran’s non-oil exports and imports, is often referred to as the country’s economic lifeline. Disruptions at Shahid Rajaee have implications not only for Iran’s economy but also for regional supply chains across the Gulf.
A Testament to Resilience — and Vulnerability
In an impressive display of crisis management, Iranian emergency services managed to control the blaze with notable speed and efficiency. Compared to recent massive fires in Los Angeles, California, or the devastating forest fires in Northern Portugal, Iran’s rapid containment efforts at Shahid Rajaee prevented an even more catastrophic outcome.
Yet the incident has exposed the underlying fragility of Iran’s civil infrastructure. Analysts warn that in the event of a full-scale military confrontation with the United States or Israel, Iran’s ports, power grids, and transport hubs could be critically vulnerable to sustained attacks.
The explosion has thus become a new symbol of both Iran’s operational resilience and its precarious exposure. At a time when diplomacy teeters on a knife’s edge, the Shahid Rajaee incident may become a turning point — influencing not just Iran’s internal policies but also the broader geopolitical dynamics of the Middle East.
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Mohammad Eslami is an Invited Assistant Professor of International Relations at University of Minho and a Researcher at Research Center for Political Science (CICP) of Portugal. He is also a Visiting Fellow of International Security at School of Law and Government of Dublin City University of Ireland.
Ibrahim Al-Marashi is Associate Professor of History at Cal State San Marcos. He co-authored with Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., A Concise History of the Middle East (Routledge, 2018) and with Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq (Routledge, 2017).
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