There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake (Picture: EPA)

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake has struck near to an Iranian nuclear power plant.

The earthquake hit 10km south-east of Borazjan, around 30 miles away from the country’s Bushehr site, at 3.19am this morning.

Bushehr is where Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is located.

There are no reports of casualties or damage, according to the state run IRNA news agency.


The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake had a depth of 10 kilometres, indicating that it was a natural event and not linked to Iran’s missile attacks on US airbases.

Iran has fired missiles at two US military bases in Iraq where US troops are based, in what it says is retaliation for the US airstrike that killed senior Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

A United States Geological Survey map shows the location of a magnitude 4,9 earthquake which hit at a depth of 10km, near the city of Borazjan, Iran (Picture: EPA)

More than a dozen ballistic missiles were launched from Iran which struck two air bases in Irbil and Al Asad, west of Baghdad at 2:00am local time (10.30pm GMT).



It still remains unclear whether there have been any casualties as a result of the strikes.

President Trump had tweeted ‘all is well’, as casualties and damage were being assessed.

Bushehr is where Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is located (Picture: Reuters)

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said the attack was ‘a slap in the face’ for the US.

It comes as a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed near Tehran shortly after taking off.

All 176 people on board the flight have died, according to Iran’s Press TV.

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The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran had initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism or a rocket attack as a cause of the crash.

However, the statement was later removed from the embassy’s website and replaced by a statement saying it was too early to draw any conclusions about what had happened.

Three Britons are among the dead, officials in Kyiv have confirmed.

Bodies of passengers are being carried from the site by search and rescue team members after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran (Picture: Anadolu)

Search and rescue teams are still at the site of the crash (Picture: Anadolu)

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Vadim Prystaiko, said that there were also 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board – the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew.

There were also 10 Swedish, four Afghan and three German nationals among the passengers.

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