A 4.8-magnitude earthquake originating from a depth of 11 kilometers struck Garmsar, located in Semnan Province, eastern Tehran, at 5:16 a.m. local time. 

The quake caused significant damage and led to widespread power and internet outages. Six people were injured and treated at the site of the injury. 18 others were taken to the hospital. Videos of trucks shaking in an earthquake posted to social media as being from the recent earthquake have been proven false. The video claims to show that an underground nuclear test may have caused the quake. 

A fact check found that the viral video is old and has been online since November 2021.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck Aradan County in Semnan Province, Northern Iran, last month, just a few days after Iran launched its second attack against Israel. This led some to speculate that the seismic activity was part of the war between Iran and Israel. 

While it is doubtful that Tuesday’s earthquake resulted from an Iranian thermonuclear device, it may be attributable to an end-of-day process. The prophets explicitly mention earthquakes and volcanoes as playing a role in the end of days, preparing the world by burning away impurities, as a crucible is used in metallurgy to purify metal. 

But Hashem God is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide His indignation. Jeremiah 10:10

The Prophet Ezekiel described earthquakes as preceding the pre-messiah multinational War of Gog and Magog.

Mountains shall be overthrown, cliffs shall topple, and every wall shall crumble to the ground. Ezekiel 38:20

Some rabbis have attributed this pre-Magog shake-up to God entering into the fray, using the forces of nature as his weapons of choice. Iran is considered a probable participant in the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog. The Zohar Chadash (Ruth 59) claims that earthquakes transpire when God gazes down at that specific part of the earth.

Rabbi Yosef Berger, the rabbi of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, noted that natural manifestations of divine intervention serve a specific purpose in connection to Israel.

“It is the function of Israel to show the world that God is still active in the world,” Rabbi Berger told Israel365 News.“Many people believe in God and even believe that God created the world. But most of them don’t believe that God acts directly in the world in relation to our actions.”

“The prophets describe a new reality that will be evident in the time of the geula (redemption),” Rabbi Berger said. “Of course, nothing happens in the world without God’s intervention. But in the end-of-days, this connection between natural events and God’s purpose will be so clear as to be undeniable.”

Rabbi Pinchas Winston, an end-of-day expert, believes that as times go on, such events indicating divine intervention in mundane events will become more prevalent.

“In the later stages of the geula (redemption) the mixture of miracle and nature will increase to the point where it will become so clear it will be undeniable,” Rabbi Winston said. “You can’t conclusively say anything is hashgacha pratit (divine intervention). But the people who are prepared to look at the big picture will be able to connect the dots in a way that makes more sense than trying to explain everything in strictly natural terms.”

Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major faults that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive. Iran is well known for its long history of disastrous earthquake activity. 

The country’s deadliest recorded quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in June 1990 that killed 40,000 people in the cities of Rudbar and Manjil in Gilan Province, injured 300,000, and left half a million homeless.

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