Deputy minister says port operations resume with 26 ships docked

The head of Bandar Abbas’s medical council warned that some victims of the explosion at Rajaei Port may still face life-threatening complications despite being discharged from hospitals.

“Some injured individuals may have left with prescriptions for CT scans or specialist tests, but these essential steps must be followed up,” Hossein Karampour told IRNA.

He said internal bleeding, brain trauma, or chemical inhalation injuries may not appear immediately but could prove fatal. Karampour, a radiologist, also cautioned about toxic gas exposure symptoms emerging up to two weeks later and urged tetanus vaccination for the wounded.

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that Iran will no longer tolerate attacks without retaliation, declaring that “the era of hit and run is over,” according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).

Speaking at a Persian Gulf Day event in Tehran, Zarif pointed to Iran’s missile strike on a US base following the 2020 killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, as well as recent strikes on Israel, as signs of a new deterrent stance.

“We are the only country that launched missiles at a US base after being attacked,” Zarif said. “Israel attacked us, and we hit back… If our missiles had hit populated areas, you’d have seen what Iran is capable of.”

Zarif also referenced the recent explosion at the Shahid Rajaei port, offering condolences to the victims’ families and saying “all of Iran is mourning Bandar Abbas.”

He said Iran has developed “an internal capacity to defend national security” and rejected claims that the country has grown weaker. “We paid a high price for where we are today,” he said, expressing gratitude to war veterans, martyrs, and Iranian leaders.

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said workers are the “first victims of inhumane policies,” condemning Iranian authorities in a message marking International Workers’ Day.

Referring to the explosion at Rajaei Port in Bandar Abbas, Ebadi wrote that more than five days have passed since the explosion in Bandar Abbas, but more than 20 of the victims have still not been identified. “Dozens of families, in anguish and uncertainty, are shouting a bitter truth,” she said.

Ebadi urged solidarity among workers, teachers, retirees, and students as “the key to change.”

Iran would “pay the consequence” for its support to Yemen’s Houthi group, said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday shortly before a fresh round of nuclear talks is set to begin in Rome on Saturday.

“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis,” Hegseth wrote on X. “You know very well what the US Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”

The US and Iran have so far held three rounds of talks mediated by Oman, aimed at capping Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran says the Houthis act independently.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is facing growing criticism from current and former officials over his handling of sensitive negotiations with Iran and Russia, The New York Post reported in an exclusive on Wednesday.

Witkoff, a real estate investor with no formal diplomatic background, has taken part in high-level meetings with Russian officials alone and at times relied on Kremlin translators — breaking with long-standing US protocol, sources told the Post.

“Nice guy, but a bumbling f–king idiot,” one former Trump official told the paper. “He should not be doing this alone.”

Witkoff has also drawn fire for his efforts in Middle East diplomacy. A tentative cease-fire deal he believed he had secured with Hamas in March quickly collapsed after the group rejected his terms and offered to release fewer hostages. “Maybe that’s just me getting duped,” Witkoff later told Fox News Sunday.

On Iran, Witkoff floated a proposal allowing Tehran to continue low-level uranium enrichment — a suggestion he walked back after backlash from hawks in Washington. Critics say his approach resembles the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal that Trump abandoned in his first term.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said on X that Witkoff’s talks with Tehran were a “waste of oxygen,” accusing the envoy of repeating mistakes of past administrations.

Analysts warned that Iran is using the talks as cover to avoid military action from Israel. “Witkoff acts as a mailman for Putin,” former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote on social media.

Despite growing concerns, the White House defended Witkoff’s record. “Steve Witkoff has done incredible work securing the release of Americans detained abroad,” deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Post. “Like President Trump, he is focused on stopping the killing and advancing peace through strength.”