Tasnim – Iran’s highest-ranking military commander voiced the Armed Forces’ readiness to help Lebanon handle the situation in the wake of a fatal blast that has displaced some 300,000 citizens in Beirut.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri sent separate messages to Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces General Joseph Aoun and to Hezbollah Secretary General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday, offering his condolences over the deaths and injuries in the huge blast that rocked Beirut on Tuesday.

Major General Baqeri said the Iranian Armed Forces are fully prepared to provide rescue and relief aid for the people of Lebanon.

In the message to Nasrallah, the Iranian commander hailed Hezbollah for playing a leading role at the forefront of the anti-Zionism battle which has thwarted the plots aimed at creating insecurity and chaos in West Asia’s Muslim countries.

Tuesday’s massive explosion in Beirut’s port has killed at least 135 people, injured 5,000, and displaced 300,000 citizens.

Officials linked the blast to hundreds of tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate that were being stored in a warehouse at the port for six years.

The explosion has also destroyed Lebanon’s silos that contain the national grain reserve. Lebanon imports up to 80 percent of its food needs and is particularly reliant on imported soft wheat to make Arabic flatbread. About 85 per cent of the country's cereals were reportedly stored in the facility.