Posted on 09/10/2008 3:56:15 PM PDT by traumer
TEHRAN: At 6.1, the earthquake that rocked Iran's main oil port of Bandar Abbas, was rated "strong" but not seen as likely to cause major damage. But the shock took a toll of nerves in many world capitals as speculation that Iran had tested a nuclear bomb spread like wildfire.
The hysteria soon died down, but not before the west wondered if its worst nightmare - of a nuclear bomb in the hands of a theocratic Islamic state - had come true after all. Though Iran's nuclear capacity is unproven, US's high-pitched campaign as well as sabre-rattling by Iran's leaders has kept nations on the edge.
With Iran's leaders like President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad - who's view that the Holocaust never happened has hardly bolstered the world's confidence - equating a prospective nuclear bomb with national pride, anything could be possible. Of course, capacity has not always matched claims as the crude photo shop to cover up a failed missile launch showed, but Tehran enjoys an unpredictable reputation.
In the end, as seismic recorders delivered their findings, a collective sigh of relief might well have risen as it turned out a tectonic churn rather than a centrifuge was responsible for the Persian landmass shaking. It might still, as some US agencies might hold, have been a close call.
The quake itself took a small toll of lives according to reports which said southern Iran was rocked on Wednesday, killing four people and sending tremors across the Persian Gulf all the way to Dubai.
The country's seismological center said the magnitude 6 quake struck at 3.30pm, with the epicenter about 850 miles south of the capital Tehran in the province of Hormozgan.
In 2005, a quake in southern Iran killed 612 people. A quake flattened the same region in 2003, killing 26,000.
The timing (with 9/11) is peculiar....
Given the location, it doesn’t make sense to think they tested an atomic weapon. Why would they test a nuke next to their own oil port city?
It was just an earthquake. But I hope someone bombs them before they DO start testing nukes....
Its Gods Will
don’t drop the n-bomb. that’s jesse jacksons job.
The seismic signature of an UGT is completely different than a quake.
For a nuke to register 6 or better it would have to be fairly large. The Cannikin test in the 70’s was 5 megaton at 5000 DOB and it was slightly over 6. It took over 2 years to prepare for that shot, even with considerable VLOS experience. Could Iran do it? Not on your life.
Vela Uniform :)
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