Blasts at Natural Gas Pipelines Cause Supply Disruptions in Iran

Two explosions have struck Iran's main south-north gas pipeline network in what officials called an act of "terrorism and sabotage" that disrupted gas supplies in several of the country's provinces.

"This terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1 am on Wednesday morning in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country," Oil Minister Javad Owji told reporters.

According to Owji, the gas company “quickly changed the configuration of the transmission network to counter the enemy's objective to cause gas outages in major provinces.”

However, state media reported that the blasts had disrupted gas supplies in four provinces -- Isfahan, North Khorasan, Lorestan and Zanjan.

And according to information received by IranWire, Saqqez and other cities in Kurdistan province, are also facing outages.

National Iranian Gas Company manager Saeed Aghli said that saboteurs had hit pipelines in the cities of Borujen in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Safashahr in the southern province of Fars.

Aghli said there were no casualties in the explosions or the ensuing fires. The official IRNA news agency reported that fire at both sites have been contained and the repairing process is underway.

No group claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Islamic Republic officials have generally blamed agents of its arch foe Israel for similar acts of sabotage in the past.

Arab separatists in southwestern Iran have also claimed previous attacks on oil pipelines.