Blast in Iran port city kills 1, wounds 14 before Strait of Hormuz naval drill watched by US

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An explosion tore through an apartment building Saturday in Iran 's port city of Bandar Abbas, killing a 4-year-old girl as local media footage purportedly showed a security force member being carried out by rescuers.

The blast happened a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Already, the U.S. military had warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the strait, on which Bandar Abbas sits.

State television quoted a local fire official as blaming the blast on a gas leak. Media reported at least 14 others suffered injuries in the explosion at the eight-story building, which blew out windows and covered the street below in debris.

A local newspaper, Sobh-e Sahel, aired footage of one of its correspondents speaking in front of the building. The footage included a sequence that showed a man in black boots and a green security force uniform being carried out on a stretcher. He wore a neck brace and appeared to be in pain, his left hand covering the branch insignia on his uniform.

The local newspaper did not acknowledge the security force member being carried out elsewhere in its reporting. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard itself did not discuss the blast, other than to deny that a Guard navy commander had been hurt in the explosion.

Another explosion blamed on a gas explosion Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed five people, state media reported.

It comes as Iran remains tense over a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to potentially launch a military strike on the country over the killing of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of those detained in a major crackdown over the demonstrations.