Iranian emergency services battled a major blaze at the Ghaem commercial complex in Mashhad after flames erupted in the early hours of Tuesday, 15 July. Hamidreza Kafi-Nia, head of the city’s fire department, said the fire started in the basement’s cosmetics and hygiene-products section and spread rapidly through the multi-storey mall. About 250 firefighters from 54 stations were mobilised, and the blaze was declared under control roughly ten hours later. No fatalities were immediately reported, but authorities are still assessing structural damage and the cause of the incident. The Mashhad fire is the latest in a string of unexplained accidents across Iran. On Monday an explosion in a residential block in the Pardisan neighbourhood of Qom injured seven people and destroyed four apartments. Within hours of the Mashhad blaze, a separate fire was reported at the Zamrud high-rise on 29 Bahman Boulevard in Tabriz, while residents also described hearing air-defence activity over the city the previous night. Officials have not released casualty figures for the Tabriz incidents. State-aligned outlets including the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency have ruled out sabotage or terrorism in the recent fires and explosions, attributing several cases to gas leaks. The explanations come amid heightened public scrutiny following last month’s cease-fire between Iran and Israel and a series of similar incidents that have fuelled speculation about their origin.