Official media reported that at least four people were killed and 120 others injured on Tuesday in a 4.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran.
Kashmar Governor Hajiullah Shariatmadari, who announced the death toll, told state television that the quake occurred at 1.24 p.m. (0954 GMT).
He added that 35 people were taken to hospital, adding that the earthquake damaged most of the dilapidated buildings in urban and rural areas of the city.
State television broadcast footage of the aftermath of the earthquake, showing first responders working in a street where all the buildings were reduced to rubble.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles).
Iran lies on different tectonic plates and is often exposed to earthquakes.
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake early last year killed three people and injured more than 800 others in the mountainous region in the northwest of the country near the border with Turkey.
In one of the world’s deadliest disasters, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 31,000 people in the city of Bam in southeastern Iran in 2003.
