Tehran / Isfahan — Already reeling from airstrikes and missile salvos, Iran has been jolted by a 4.3 magnitude earthquake, rattling cities and bases in the country’s center just as it fights a multi-front war with the United States and Israel. The shallow quake struck before dawn, sending residents in parts of Isfahan and surrounding towns rushing into streets already darkened by rolling blackouts and fuel shortages.

Initial reports say at least several buildings suffered cracks and partial collapses in older neighborhoods, while panicked families poured into hospital courtyards demanding checks for children and the elderly. In one town, video shows a damaged clinic where windows were blown out days earlier by blast waves from nearby strikes — now further weakened by the tremor.

Iranian officials insist there is “no immediate danger” to major nuclear or missile facilities, but admit some frontline Revolutionary Guard units in the region have had to pause operations to assess structural damage to bunkers and command posts. Emergency crews, already stretched thin by war casualties and fuel constraints, are struggling to reach remote villages amid reports of landslides and blocked roads.

Tehran is framing the quake as yet another test of “the nation’s resilience under divine trial,” while critics at home ask why critical infrastructure was left so vulnerable after years of sanctions and mismanagement. For Washington and Jerusalem, the tremor adds a volatile new variable: a battered adversary whose ability to govern, fight and protect its own civilians is being shaken — literally — in the middle of an escalating regional war.