Tremor And 'Terrible Sound' In Western Iran Raise Suspicions
A powerful tremor accompanied by a loud noise shook the city of Khorramabad in western Iran on Monday night, as local officials say the source has not been identified.
A powerful tremor accompanied by a loud noise shook the city of Khorramabad in western Iran on Monday night, as local officials say the source has not been identified.
Iranian media and officials are buzzing with vague and contradictory statements about the 'terrible sound,' which has apparently not resulted in any visible damage to urban areas or civilian casualties.
One thing which local and central officials emphasize is that no “earthquake or explosion” took place in the city, and they are investigating the incident.
According to Iranian media and residents commenting on social media, the incident occurred around 10PM local time on Monday, when people heard the loud sound and felt the ground was shaking. In the first few hours, some government media in Iran called the incident “an earthquake” and headlined their news, “Khorramabad shook.”
Tasnim news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) wrote: "The intense jolts, accompanied by a terrifying sound, caused tremors in parts of Khorramabad city, instilling fear and disrupting the nighttime tranquility of the people." Tasnim added that residents first thought an earthquake had happened, but as the seismological center in Tehran did not register a tremor, they began speculating about an explosion. However, hours later, state official began denying any earthquake or explosion.
Observers and independent media outside Iran began reminding the public that there is a large underground IRGC ballistic missile base near Khorramabad. One Iranian military blogger in Europe posted on social media saying that the incident was “a successful Israeli operation,” without citing his sources.
Since July 2020, Israel has launched successful sabotage and drone attacks against sensitive military and industrial targets in Iran, including at least three major operations that inflicted heavy damage on nuclear installations.
In April 2021, as world power began negotiation with Iran in Vienna to revive the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, a huge explosion hit the underground Natanz uranium enrichment site in central Iran. This was the second destructive incident in less than a year, which wiped out a significant part of enrichment machines called centrifuges.
The Islamic Republic blamed Israel for these attacks, while successive Israeli governments have remained silent and never accepted responsibility. However, they have repeatedly warned that Israel will lose all resources, including military attack to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Last week, another mysterious incident took place in northern Iran, when people in the city of Gorgan heard loud explosions and pieces of unidentified military objects fell on the city. Officials on that occasion also voiced contradictory statements. However, a deputy-governor in the province said that “a drone had crashed” and wounded two people.
A recent photo that went viral on social media shows 13 students of the prestigious Sharif University at the Tehran International Airport before leaving the country for good. Sharif University is one of the best of its kind in Iran and many of its graduates have relocated to the United States to continue their studies.
During the Women, Life Freedom protests in October 2022, security forces violently attacked the university in downtown Tehran and injured and arrested several dozen students.
A report on Khabar Online website told the story of Sharif University students at the airport and quoted one of the students as saying that "at least 10 of them left Iran on that night." He said, "With the students who were there to see off their friends, the departure hall looked more like the Sharif University than the Imam Khomeini Airport."
The report added that up to 100 of the 120 students admitted to Sharif University last year have left Iran for good. The viral photo which was mainly posted by reformist politicians on X, Instagram and Telegram, and the comments made by social media users have created a wave of sad sentiments on social media.
The exact number of students who left the country that night is a matter of dispute, but there is no doubt that scores have left in the past few weeks.
Accounts by Sharif students indicated that many more of their classmates have already left or planning to leave. Mohammad, one of the students, told Khabar Online that when he entered the airport hall, it looked like the university's courtyard. Upon his arrival, Mohammad saw some 20 of his classmates as well as many graduates of other universities who were all waiting to depart and fly to a third country before the last leg of their travel to the United States. He said with a degree of certainty that at least 6 of those in the picture left that night.
Earlier, Shahin Akhundzadeh, a professor at the Tehran University's school of medicine told Khabar Online that at least 50 of the students that were admitted to that school in 2014, later left Iran for good. However, according to the report, there is no reliable official statistics about student migration.
Mohammad told Khabar Online that some of the student resolved to leave Iran after the security police locked them in the university last October and badly battered them. He said during the past years, some of the students left Iran with a clear intention to return after graduation, but their families encourage to stay abroad.
Earlier in September, Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani criticized the harsh treatment of the elite, alleging that some officials are pleased that they are leaving the country. Rouhani added that an expatriate, apparently with high qualifications, who returned after this meeting with Iranian students in the United States in 2014 was arrested at the airport, presumably by security forces taking their orders from places other than his government.
Shahriyar Haydari, the deputy chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has said: “We would not be facing this level of emigration if effective action had been taken by the government,” adding that “Most of the emigrants are gifted and expert individuals.”
Meanwhile, Dr Saeid Moidfar, chairman of the Iranian Sociological Association, told the press early September that a new wave of emigration, sparked by the crackdown on last year's nationwide protests and a deep economic crisis, is reaching a critical point. Moidfar warned that Iran is now on the threshold of a very intense wave of emigration because those who want to leave believe that political and economic circumstances are not going to improve in Iran, the society’s values are degrading, and corruption and crime are on the rise.
Announcing the launch of the new location, Mahmood Enayat, General Manager of Iran International TV, said, "Britain is the home of free speech. The resumption of our programs from this country is evidence that we will not abandon independent and uncensored journalism to the people of Iran."
Following a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran and advice from the London Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV announced in February that it reluctantly and temporarily closed its London studios and moved broadcasting to Washington DC. Iran International was warned by authorities in November that its journalists were under threat from Iranian agents and the police took measures to strengthen security around the network’s offices. A man was arrested in the vicinity of Iran International’s headquarters in February and charged with a terrorism offence.
In his message celebrating the resumption of broadcasting from London, Enayat extended his gratitude to the reporters and staff for their unwavering commitment during this challenging period. He also expressed appreciation to the Metropolitan Police of London and the British government for their continuous support in safeguarding Iran International's personnel and facilitating their safe return to the London office.
The channel's broadcasts have gained special significance since popular anti-regime rallies broke out in Iran last September, providing uncensored coverage of the protests and the subsequent crackdown on the public by the regime. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened Iran International and other Persian broadcasters based abroad as the government blocked the Internet to deny the population news and information. The Iranian regime has blamed foreign-based Persian broadcasters such as BBC Persian and Iran International for “fomenting unrest”, while all media in the country are under tight government control and present protesters as “rioters” and “terrorists”.
On Sunday, British daily The Times reported that Iran International’s workers are “ready to run the gauntlet again” seven months after the terrorist scare. “They said they were receiving information that there is going to be an immediate attack — maybe today, tonight or tomorrow,” Aliasghar Ramezanpoor, the head of news at the channel, told the newspaper.
“The Iranian government tried to make islands of people and sought to cut the flow of information about what was going on from one city to another,” Saeid Habil, a senior journalist at Iran International, told the paper. “They managed to cut the internet, so people [in Iran] needed an alternative link to each other. We were that link.”
Speaking last week at the station’s new studios in north London, Elnaz Kiani, a lead news anchor, told The Times that “For months, we were living whatever people were living in Iran — with all the emotions and hope. People trusted us. They were putting their lives in our hands by going out into the street and taking videos for us.”
Amid repeated threats by the Islamic Republic against Iran International’s reporters, the UK government vowed in December to step up protection of London-based Iranian journalists. British officials also expressed strong support for Iran International. Tom Tugendhat, the UK's Minister of State for Security, has repeatedly condemned Iran's threats against the network. He affirmed that the UK would continue its support for the network, ensuring its activities in a secure environment.
Regime authorities, including several Revolutionary Guard commanders, have repeatedly issued threats against Iran International and other foreign-based media outlets.
Earlier this month, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib reiterated threats against Iran International media network throughout the globe "wherever and whenever deemed necessary." He emphasized that the Islamic Republic would not refrain from invasive measures against the workers of the channel. “We believe that Iran International is a terrorist network, and naturally we deem it our duty and mission to act against them wherever and whenever we deem appropriate,” he said, warning that “no terrorist media will be safe.”
Khatib stated, "Support from various countries will not deter us from taking invasive security measures," claiming that several foreign-based channels have promoted “terrorism,” and Iran International is one of the most important ones.
The US Department of State, Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists, and Australia’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance are among entities that expressed support for Iran International and stressed the importance of safeguarding journalists' security and press freedom following the relocation of Iran International’s London office.
Following the relocation to DC, IRGC Commander-In-Chief Major General Hossein Salami said the threats against the channel’s journalists "show how far the Islamic Revolution's realm of power, field of infiltration and radius of influence has extended."
In May, Britain’s shadow security minister slammed the threats against journalists covering Iran’s protests. Speaking on World Press Freedom Day, Holly Lynch, the Labour MP for Halifax, said the threats by the Iranian regime include “assassination and kidnap plots against UK residents who are perceived as enemies of Iran owing to their coverage of the protests and the regime’s brutal crackdown”.