By Nohad Topalian | 2025-08-12

BEIRUT -- Intelligence reports and expert analysis point to the Iranian regime's hand in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands, and destroyed vast areas of Lebanon's capital.

The blast involved 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that intelligence sources say was shipped by Unit 190 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF) to Hizbullah and stored haphazardly at the port for six years.

The detonation was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

Hundreds of Lebanese joined the victims' families to mark the fifth anniversary of the blast, demanding justice.

Iran-backed Hizbullah has obstructed the investigation through an organized campaign against judicial investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, who resumed the investigation this year after a two-year hiatus.

The Lebanese state is "committed to uncovering the full truth," Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told victims' families. "The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain."

WikiLeaks intelligence and media reports revealed that senior IRGC-QF official Behnam Shahriari -- assassinated by Israel in Tehran in June -- oversaw Unit 190, which specializes in arms transfers and covert logistics operations.

Shahriari and associate Mousavi Tabar operated the Liner Transport Kish shipping company, which transported large nitrate shipments to Hizbullah between 2011 and 2014, according to the reports.

The fatal shipment arrived at Beirut Port in August 2013. Lebanese authorities confiscated and warehoused the materials, where they remained until the catastrophic explosion.

Obstruction campaign

Hizbullah's obstruction of the investigation confirms it is "the main suspect in the explosion, as it has prevented the state and the judiciary from revealing the truth for five years," strategic security expert Yarab Saqr told Al-Fassel.

The obstruction campaign "serves as evidence of IRGC involvement, through its Unit 190, in the shipment of ammonium nitrate," he said.

"Regardless of the name of the Iranian units responsible for transporting the nitrate, the party that stored the nitrate for years was the most prominent Iranian proxy, Hizbullah."

Hizbullah's resistance to investigation has included threats by official Wafiq Safa against Judge Bitar, and negative public statements by the late party chief, Hassan Nasrallah and others.

It has included protection of accused officials close to the party, and securing the release of detainees involved in the case, writer and political activist Marwan al-Amin told Al-Fassel.

The lack of accountability "leaves the families of the victims without justice five years after the explosion," he said.

"Hizbullah and Iran have caused massive human losses, not only with the Beirut port explosion, but also with all their destructive wars and choices in Lebanon, Syria, and the region," he added.