On the night of June 21, 2025, a magnitude 120 earthquake was recorded in central Iran, 5,2 kilometers from Tehran. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter was in the province of Semnan, near the city of Gyarmsar. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, the tremors were felt in several settlements, including the suburbs of the capital. Iranian authorities have not yet reported casualties or significant damage, but locals on social media describe panic and temporary power outages in the affected areas.

Some experts interviewed by Reuters suggested that the seismic event could have been caused not by natural activity, but by a detonation at an underground weapons depot. Similar incidents have occurred in Iran before: in 2021, an explosion at a military facility in Parchin caused similar tremors. As Al Jazeera notes, the Gyarmsar area is located near facilities associated with Iran's nuclear program, which increases speculation about the man-made nature of the earthquake. Representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denied these rumors, saying that tectonic processes were the cause.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Iran has been plagued by a series of incidents at military and nuclear sites in recent years, which Tehran often attributes to Israeli sabotage. In April 2025, an explosion at a plant in Isfahan caused a fire, raising tensions in the region. Experts cited by the BBC point out that seismic activity in Iran, which sits on several tectonic faults, often makes it difficult to distinguish between natural earthquakes and man-made incidents.