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| - A fire caused by a blast at a petrochemical plant in a southwestern Iran port was put out on Friday with no casualties, state news agency IRNA reported. "At 15:45 (1215 GMT) today the aromatics unit of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant caught fire after a blast," company official Mehrdad Gheibi told IRNA. Aromatics is a technical term for a specific group of petrochemicals, including benzene. Company and local firefighters extinguished the blaze about three hours later, containing it before it could spread to other units, the agency added, citing a company statement. The cause of the accident is under investigation, Gheibi said, adding that there have been no casualties. Located in Khuzestan province close to the Gulf, the plant is one of Iran's largest, and is a part of a petrochemical zone at the Imam Khomeini port. The incident is the latest in a series of fires and explosions that have hit military and civilian sites across Iran since June. A July blast caused damage at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant, with authorities initially calling it an accident before later blaming sabotage. amh/kam/pjm
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