Two earthquakes hit southern Iran coast

Washington:  Two earthquakes, one a magnitude 5.8, struck Iran's Gulf coast on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey reported.

The first, stronger quake hit at 11:08 p.m. local time (1938 GMT) and was very shallow, with a verified epicentre only 10 km deep. It was located 85km southwest of Lar, close to the southern coast.

The second quake, a magnitude 5.1, struck 12 minutes later just a few km away, at the same shallow depth.

The Iranian Seismological Centre website said both quakes were in the Fars province but gave no further details.

There was no immediate reports from Iran of whether the quakes had caused any casualties or damage.