Free Republic

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 and a series of aftershocks struck the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan on Saturday, causing minor damage, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. "The earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.0, was centered near the rural area of Fin in Hormuzgan province," Farhad Jabari, head of Hormuzgan's Red Crescent rescue service told Reuters. Before leaving for the quake-hit area, Jabari said by telephone he did not think the first quake at 10.58 a.m. (0728 GMT) had done much damage but feared a third aftershock at about 1.30 p.m. (1000 GMT)...

Reuters - TWO VILLAGES DESTROYED BY QUAKE IN SOUTH IRAN - GOVERNOR'S OFFICE IN HORMUZGAN PROVINCE THIRD VILLAGE, KHALEDI, ALSO RAVAGED BY SOUTH IRAN QUAKE - STATE TV

TEHRAN, July 22 (MNA) -- The deputy director of the Qeshm Free Trade Zone Organization said on Thursday that a tourist and recreational complex for non-Muslims will be established on the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm. Islamic law and some restrictions will not be enforced at the tourist complex, Ali-Akbar Einollahi told the Persian service of the Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency. He said that an agency named Marina, owned by an Iranian Christian woman, has obtained a license for the complex and a beach to be shared by men and women, which would be the first of its kind...

Oil tanker Niovi, sailing under Panamanian flag, captured by Iran in Strait of Hormuz Iranian forces captured a foreign vessel on Wednesday, the second ship to be harassed and seized by the Middle Eastern country in a week, the U.S. Navy said. The Niovi, a commercial oil tanker flying the Panama flag, was passing through the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman when it was overtaken by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN)