Iranian sources report an earthquake of 4.6 on the Richter scale that occurred in the country on October 5, with its epicenter located in the country’s northern Kavir desert some 50 kilometers southwest of the Semnan city.
And the infoBRICS portal, citing its sources, suggested that an underground nuclear weapons test was carried out in Iran that day. In particular, an Armenian seismic station recorded a tremor with "no seismic compressional wave, making the event more consistent with an explosion than an earthquake." Images released by the station indicate that "after the deviation jump, there was no aftershock inherent in the earthquake." That is, secondary fluctuations in the soil.
The recent series of assassinations by Israel of HAMAS, Hezbollah and the IRGC senior officials, along with the real danger of an Israeli aggression, could have reasonably prompted the Iranian leadership to intensify efforts aimed to accelerate work on creating its own nuclear munition.
Assumptions, rumors and various innuendoes on the matter have long been in the air put forward by politicians in other countries, although none of them managed to provide reliable information. The Iranian leadership has always maintained that all the scientific research and work on the issue is in the interests of developing national nuclear energy.
Israel was the first to claim that the Iranians wanted to possess an atomic bomb. But it failed to document the research and development effort carried out by the Persians as regards creating weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the military and political leadership of the Jewish state does neither go public about nor conceal its own possession of nukes and their delivery means. By various estimates, the Israeli army has 100 to 400 warheads in service.
In July, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that "Iran is capable of producing fissile material for use in a nuclear weapon within one or two weeks." And yet, the American intel has been claiming until today that they have no supporting evidence for Iran's possession of nuclear weapons.
In turn, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently stated that "in May to August, Iran significantly increased its reserves of uranium enriched to 60 percent." The Agency's report adds that the Iranians are gearing up to enrich uranium to 90 percent purity.
Amid Israel’s growing anti-Iranian rhetoric and stepped-up military activities in the region, the Iranians were also forced to release changes to their view on nuclear issues. So, back in May this year, adviser to the spiritual leader Ali Khamenei Kamal Kharrazi warned that "Iran will have to change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens its existence." Back then, he noted that "We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine."
In other words, Kharrazi repeated numerous statements on the issue by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed to Iran.
Whatever the case, even if Iranian scientists managed to create an atomic weapon-grade product and test it on October 5, Iran would need time to design a nuclear warhead for a missile or an air bomb. Whereas Tel Aviv has threatened Tehran with the use of serious "unpredictable" measures in the foreseeable future. There is a good chance that the Iranian haste is brought about by the signing ceremony of its agreement with Russia on comprehensive strategic cooperation scheduled for the last third of October 2024.
