On early Sunday, loud blasts were heard in several cities of western Iran. The loud explosions were heard in four of the province in western Iran, including Hamadan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Ilam – at around midnight local time.
Earlier, the panic was created among the residents as there were rumours that the enemy nation’s military had attacked the country, but, later it was confirmed by the interior ministry official that the loud blasts were because of the thunderstorm.
According to the reports, interior ministry official, Majid Mirahmadi, said, “After communicating with various security and military agencies, confirmed that thunderstorms and lightning caused the loud sounds. No incident of bombing or attack has occurred.”
Another informed source confirmed that the reason behind the blasts was lightning. The source further denied the speculations that the noises heard were sabotage.
Several similar occurrences have lately been attributed to unannounced military drills by Iranian officials amid rising tensions with Israel and the United States over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israel has threatened to use military force if diplomacy fails to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, Iran claims that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
The US and Iran are now in Vienna for indirect discussions to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the US pulled out of in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.
A few days back, United States Secretary Antony Blinken said that there are just a few weeks left to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.