ByTZVI JOFFRE
Updated:

A large fire was reported at the Kangan Petro Refining Co. (KPRC) in southern Iran along the coast of the Persian Gulf on Monday, just a day after an explosion reportedly impacted a drone factory in the center of the country.

According to Iranian media, a fire at the waste warehouse at KPRC was contained and extinguished within an hour and no operational units were damaged. No injuries were reported in the fire.  

Video footage reportedly from the scene of the fire showed large amounts of smoke billowing out of a warehouse.

The cause of the fire has not yet been reported and is still under investigation.

The facility was inaugurated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani just a few months ago, with an expectation of generating about $1 billion in revenue for Iran.

The fire comes just a day after nine people were injured in an explosion at the Sepahan Nargostar chemical and fireworks factory in the city of Shahin Shahr in Iran’s Isfahan Province on Saturday night.

The cause of the blast was said to also be under investigation.

The Sepahan Nargostar factory is a producer of industrial and commercial explosive materials and is under the supervision of the National Security Council, according to IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency), the official government-controlled news agency. The company produces various types of fireworks and gunpowder, as well as nitrate, sodium, potassium, strontium, calcium, copper and barium, the report said.

The Guardian reported on Sunday that the blast actually took place at the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), which produces a variety of aircraft, including drones, for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces and is also located in Shahin Shahr.
The explosion was linked to the shooting down of a drone by Israel near the Jordanian border last week, the report said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was an Iranian drone sent from either Iraq or Syria. The IDF collected fragments of the destroyed aircraft for further examination.

The news of the fire and the explosion comes just days after Iranian officials reported major progress in negotiations on renewing the Iran nuclear deal.

Last Thursday, Rouhani said all parties to the talks have agreed to lift “all major sanctions” on Iranian oil, petrochemicals, shipping, insurance and the central bank.

Last year, a series of explosions and fires hit industrial sites across Iran, including a number of petrochemical plants. Iranian officials referred to most of the cases as incidents or accidents, although some reports have claimed that at least some of them involved foul play. Aging infrastructure in Iran has also been blamed for some of the incidents.