On Tuesday, April 16, there was yet another earthquake in the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. Neighboring Pakistan, this province is one of Iran's poorest and sparsely populated. Had an earthquake of the same magnitude (7.8 on the Richter scale) struck Tehran, hundreds of thousands if not more could have perished.

The last time there was a high-casualty earthquake in Iran was in late December 2003 in the city of Bam. It killed more than 30,000 people.

Although the Iranian regime said it was unwilling to receive help from Israel, according to an article by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, three years afterwards in 2006, Tehran allowed Israeli experts to visit the earthquake damaged areas. Although the article does not give an exact date of the visit, it says that the Israeli specialists celebrated passover in Tehran. In 2006, Passover holidays took place on April 12. So the visit must have taken place around that date. According to the article, the three Israelis entered Iran on a special laissez-passer passport which did not disclose their nationality. This was probably done in order not to create a scene in the airport by those who did not need to know. Those who did were Ayatollah Khamenei and most probably the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps].

Iran accepted Israel's help because prior to the revolution many of the bridges and roads were built by Israeli experts and companies. Additionally, the regime in Tehran was subject to increasing criticism at home because of lack of progress in the construction process. It seems that after the 2003 Bam earthquake, Iran wanted the experts to hand back the infrastructure plans so that they could be used in rebuilding. Their presence was also most probably used for consulting purposes.