A series of loud explosions shook southern Iran on July 9, striking near the Bushehr nuclear power plant and sending a familiar question across the region: who is bombing Iran now?
Iranian media reported blasts in multiple locations. Mehr news agency recorded six explosions across Bushehr, Choghadak and the port city of Konarak. Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr province, confirmed explosions were heard near the nuclear plant but said authorities were still investigating whether they came from Iranian air defense systems, an enemy projectile, or an intercepted drone.
The US military said it was not involved. A US official told CNN that American forces were not carrying out operations at the time. An Israeli official told CNN the same: “Not familiar with any Israeli involvement in strikes in Iran right now.”
The denials matter because the explosions came on the third consecutive day of US strikes against Iran. Washington had acknowledged two rounds of strikes earlier in the week, launched in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The US had hit more than 80 targets, revoked the oil sanctions waiver, and Trump had declared the ceasefire “over.”
But the July 9 blasts appeared separate from those operations. If neither the US nor Israel was responsible, the question becomes whether the explosions were caused by Iranian air defenses firing at a perceived threat, or by something else entirely.
The Bushehr plant is Iran’s only operational civilian nuclear facility. Any strike near it carries enormous risk of escalation, whether intentional or accidental. Iran has accused Israel of sabotaging its nuclear infrastructure before, the Stuxnet attack on centrifuges at Natanz, the assassination of nuclear scientists. The region is primed to assume the worst.
The explosions unfolded against a backdrop of extraordinary political tension. Iran was in the final days of mourning for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on February 28. Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Mashhad for his burial. State television showed crowds in black chanting for revenge. A fighter jet escorted the helicopter carrying Khamenei’s coffin.
Israeli leaders hardened their rhetoric in parallel. Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel was prepared to strike Iran for a “third time”, the first two rounds having occurred earlier this year, and vowed any future operation would be carried out “with even greater force.”
Whether the July 9 explosions were a US operation, an Israeli one, an Iranian mishap, or something else, the environment in which they happened makes calm assessment nearly impossible. Every explosion in Iran is now assumed to be an attack. Every denial is met with skepticism. In a war where the ceasefire is already dead, the difference between a strike and an accident may no longer matter.