The quake occurred at 19:04 local time on Sunday afternoon near the city of Khesht, some 90 kilometres from the port city of Bushehr.
The epicentre, with a depth of 11 km, was an area on the border between the provinces of Fars and Bushehr.
The quake has been felt by people in Fars, Bushehr, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces.
Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.
On November 12, 2017, the western province of Kermanshah was hit by a major 7.3-magnitude quake that killed 620 people.
The deadliest quake in Iran’s modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil, and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing an estimated 37,000 people.
Bam in the country’s southeastern province of Kerman witnessed a strong quake in December 2003 which killed 31,000 people.
