(JEWISH VOICE NEWS) At least two powerful explosions tore through Iran on Saturday, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others, as authorities scrambled to explain the cause amid heightened regional tensions, as the New York Post reported.

One of the blasts hit the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, a strategic hub on the Persian Gulf that also hosts the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency and as the New York Post reported. The explosion struck an eight-story residential building, destroying two floors and sparking panic among residents.

Iranian state media said the blast in Bandar Abbas killed a child and wounded at least 14 others. Shocking images circulated on social media showed crowds fleeing the scene as emergency crews rushed to the damaged building, the New York Post reported.

Iranian officials were quick to deny that the explosion had anything to do with a military strike. The IRGC issued a statement rejecting online claims that its naval headquarters had been targeted.

“No drone attack has occurred on the IRGC Navy’s headquarters in Hormozgan, and no building affiliated with this force has been damaged,” the IRGC said, according to Tasnim and as reported by the New York Post.

The IRGC also dismissed rumors that one of its naval commanders had been targeted in the blast, The Times of Israel reported, a point later echoed in coverage by the New York Post.

The incident comes at a sensitive moment. The Iranian Navy is scheduled to hold live-fire military drills in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and Monday. At the same time, the U.S. military has repositioned the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group closer to Iran, a move widely seen as a signal amid rising friction between Tehran and the Trump administration, as the New York Post reported. Bandar Abbas sits directly along the vital waterway.

A second deadly explosion was reported later Saturday in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, across the strait. That blast killed five people in what Iranian officials described as a gas explosion at a residential complex, The Jerusalem Post reported, and as the New York Post also noted.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s Central Command issued a sharp warning to Tehran early Saturday, cautioning that any “unsafe and unprofessional behavior near U.S. forces, regional partners or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation and destabilization,” according to the New York Post.

While U.S. and Israeli officials have denied any involvement in the explosions, the timing and locations of the blasts have fueled speculation and anxiety inside Iran as the region remains on edge, as the New York Post reported.