Natural or nuclear test? Scientific opinion settles the debate over the Iran earthquake.
Natural or nuclear test? Scientific opinion settles the debate over the Iran earthquake.
2025-06-21
Shafaq News/ Following the earthquake that struck Iran on Friday evening, measuring over 5.0 on the Richter scale, speculation mounted that it was possibly caused by a secret nuclear test, prompting seismologists to refute this.
According to Ali Ramthan, a professor of seismology at Sumer University, speaking to Shafaq News Agency, “The earthquake, which was recorded at a depth of 10 kilometers in the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran, was caused by an active reverse fault, an area historically known for its seismic activity.” He pointed out that the earthquake “was monitored by 149 stations around the world, and it is impossible for humans to conduct a nuclear test at this depth in any way.”
Ramthan explained that the seismic waves resulting from this event “carry a clear natural signature,” as experts around the world can easily distinguish between natural tremors and those resulting from industrial activity based on the speed of the primary and secondary waves. This has been confirmed by scientific centers, including the American Observatory.
He added, “It is impossible for any country, including Iran, to conduct a nuclear test near an active fault line, because this could trigger devastating earthquakes resulting from a phenomenon known as a triggered earthquake. All nuclear states avoid this by conducting tests in geologically safe locations, such as oceans or remote deserts.”
He also stressed that “earthquakes resulting from nuclear tests typically do not exceed magnitude 3 and do not occur at depths greater than a few hundred meters, while the recent Iranian earthquake exceeded magnitude 5, which would require energy equivalent to millions of tons of TNT, equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs.”
He concluded by saying, “We are witnessing a natural earthquake par excellence, and anything that is being raised to the contrary falls within the realm of exaggeration, scientific ignorance, or attempts at political exploitation that are not based on any scientific basis.”
It’s worth noting that the Alborz Mountains, located between the Caspian Sea and the central Iranian plateau, are among the most seismically active regions in Iran and have experienced devastating earthquakes over the past decades, making such tremors expected within the region’s known geological range.
shafaq.com
