What we know about Iran's gas pipelines explosions

Iran said its gas network was sabotaged on Wednesday, the latest in a series of mysterious incidents in the country. 

The dispatching director of the National Iranian Gas Company, Saeed Aghili, said two blasts, described as “acts of sabotage,” caused fires at natural gas pipelines at around 1 a.m. local time. The affected pipelines are in Borujen, located southwest of Isfahan, and Safashahr, which is northeast of Shiraz. There were no injuries, Aghili said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Videos purportedly showing the explosion in Borujen circulated on Iranian social media.

The fires were contained and repairs have been started, according to Aghili, though he did not provide an exact timeline for the work to be completed. Aghili added that Iran’s overall gas transmission network is stable, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Why it matters: Mysterious explosions, fires and related incidents are regular occurrences in Iran. In September, a fire broke out at an Iranian defense site outside of Tehran due to unclear causes. The following December, Iranian state media reported an “enemy conspiracy” was behind an outage at fuel stations in the country.

Iranian authorities have blamed similar past actions on the United States and Israel. The Islamic Republic accused Israel of being behind the 2021 cyberattack against the Natanz nuclear facility. Tehran likewise linked the massive fire at the facility the year prior to Israel and the US, according to The Associated Press. 

Iran also blamed the United States and Israel for the deadly explosion at late IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani’s burial site in January, though the Islamic State later claimed credit for the blast.

Gas is a major industry in Iran. The country has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world after Russia, and is the world’s third largest gas producer. 

Pipelines have been targeted in the past. The Sunni jihadist group Ansar al-Furqan claimed an attack on an oil pipeline in southwest Iran’s Khuzestan province in 2017. 

In 2011, three gas pipelines were damaged by an explosion near the holy Shiite city of Qom. An official said that the blast was the result of sabotage without specifying, the Washington Post reported at the time. 

Know more: Iran’s parliament suffered a cyberattack on Tuesday. The attack was claimed by a hacking group affiliated with the Iranian dissident organization Mujahedin-e Khalq.