“This past Saturday night, southern Iran experienced what was reported as a significant earthquake — a seismic event measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale,” reports Arutz Sheva/Israel National News, attributing the story first to the Israel Insider website. “Its epicenter was just north of the strategic Straits of Hormuz, which separates Iran from Abu Dhabi and Oman and which is the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The report quotes an Iranian nuclear scientist who claims to be working in uranium enrichment for the project, and who said that the ‘quake’ was acutally an undergound nuclear bomb test. Israel Insider adds that the test/quake was actually the second in a series. Nine days ago, a 4.8 Richter scale event occurred, with its epicenter only five kilometers away from the weekend tremor. The Israel Insider source reports that two nuclear rockets are currently ready — and are intended for use against Israel in the coming months. If the report is correct, it would belie previous speculation that Iran would not begin nuclear testing until it had more nuclear-bomb production capability.”
Let me stress that this is an unconfirmed report. While the Associated Press did report a 5.0 earthquake in Iran this past weekend, as of 7:30am eastern on Friday, the allegation that the quake was connected to Iranian nuclear testing has not been picked up by other major Israeli news services such as the Jerusalem Post, Ynet, or Haaretz.
OTHER HEADLINES TO TRACK:
* AP: IAEA member says Iran holding secret tests to advance nuclear program
* Reuters: Al Qaeda wants Republicans, Bush “humiliated”
* Tech Central Station: How would the economy be different if Steve Forbes had won in 2000?