A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on Wednesday rattled an area less than 50 kilometres from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant near the country’s Gulf coast, a US monitor said.

The quake, which had a depth of 10 kilometres, struck 17 kilometres south-southeast of Borazjan city at 6:49 am , the US Geological Survey said on its website.State news agency IRNA said the earthquake was felt in Bushehr, site of the country’s sole nuclear power plant.