A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Iran's southern province of Bushehr which is home to a nuclear power plant on Thursday.

State television reported the earthquake around 10am local time saying the epicentre was close to the town of Kaki in a sparsely populated area.

The epicenter is also 60 miles away from the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck southern Iran on Thursday, with the epicentre located around 60 miles from the Bushehr nuclear power plant

There was no damage to the plant, state reports said, and no immediate reports of damage or casualties elsewhere.

Bushehr, the country's only operating nuclear plant, has survived earthquakes in the past, and was built to withstand tremors in earthquake-prone Iran.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the quake occurred at a depth of 18km and gave no further details.

The US Geological Survey put the depth of the quake at just 10km, with shallower quakes often causing more damage.

There are approximately 500 earthquakes between magnitude 5.5 and 6 each year, which generally cause damage to buildings and other structures.

Iran sits along several major fault lines and sees many earthquakes each year.

The last major quake in Iran occurred last November, when at least 530 people were killed and thousands more injured when it struck the border region with Iraq.