Iran Suffers Yet Another Blast, This Time West of Capital

On Friday, another loud series of explosions was heard in Iran, this time near the city of Garmdareh, west of Tehran. According to local reports, residents of the capital complained of power outages in several neighborhoods immediately following the blasts. An expert who spoke with The New York Times said the area where the explosions took place is home to two military compounds, one of them a missile facility. A source in the Iranian government, on the other hand, told Al Jazeera the events were due to the supervised use of explosives as part of a tunnel-digging project near the capital. The incident is the latest in a series of mysterious explosions, leaks and fires that have erupted throughout Iran in the past few weeks. The one that did the most damage occurred at the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility south of Tehran. It is said to have delayed the country’s nuclear enrichment program by at least a year.