Strikes on Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone

On the morning of Saturday, 15 Farvardin 1405 (April 4, 2026) — the first working day following the Nowruz holiday — a sustained series of air strikes struck the Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone and adjacent facilities at Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan Province. The attack took place in multiple waves between approximately 10:30 and 11:00 AM local time.

Three critical components of the zone were struck: (1) Fajr Energy 1 and 2 (فجر انرژی خلیج‌فارس), the utility companies supplying electricity, steam, water, oxygen, nitrogen, and industrial gases to all 19 downstream petrochemical complexes in the zone; (2) the water and power supply infrastructure for Bandar Imam Khomeini port and Petrochemical Razi; (3) a section of Petrochemical Karoun.

The strikes killed six workers employed by Fajr Energy 1 and 2 and injured 19 others across multiple facilities. The dead were identified as: Hossein Hashempour (born 1981, HSE unit); Ali Emami (born 1983, operations unit); Mehdi Visitar (born 1983, maintenance unit); Abouzar Reihani (born 1985, maintenance unit); Ali Mombini (born 1992, maintenance unit); Mohammad Torabi (born 1995, maintenance unit). All six were killed while on duty performing civilian technical and maintenance work.

The strikes also cut power to 500,000 residents of the Bandar Imam Khomeini and Mahshahr area and halted production at 19 downstream petrochemical complexes. The complex is Iran's largest petrochemical hub, producing approximately 72 million tons of products annually and employing a significant share of the approximately 300,000 residents of the region. Production remained disrupted for weeks after the attack, with only a fraction of equipment restarted on emergency diesel generation.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu explicitly confirmed responsibility for the strikes on the same day, stating: "We are destroying commanders, bombing bridges and infrastructure" and describing the petrochemical and oil sectors as "their money-making machines that fund their terrorist war against us and the world." The IDF's stated justification was that the facilities were "responsible for the production of chemical materials used for weapons." Iranian authorities, industry officials, and independent analysts rejected this characterization, describing the targeted facilities as purely civilian energy and chemical infrastructure serving domestic consumption and export markets.