TEHRAN: State television cited an emergency service more than 716 people injured but there were no reports of death or major damage.

The initial quake, around seven kilometers deep, was followed by several aftershocks including one with a magnitude of 5.2.

Morteza Salimi, an official with Iran's Red Crescent Society, said most of the casualties had been injured in a stampede sparked by the first tremors.

The quake had rocked areas newly rebuilt after a 7.3-magnitude tremor last November that killed 620 people and injured thousands more.

Iran sits on top of two major tectonic plates and sees frequent seismic activity.

In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude tremor struck the southeast of the country, decimating the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killing at least 31,000 people.

The countries deadliest such incident was a 7.4-magnitude quake in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in northern Iran, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.

Fears of aftershocks forced many people to spend the night out on the street in cold weather. The quake triggered many damage and landslides in some areas, but Iranian authorities said rescue teams had access to all towns and villages.

The shiver was also felt in Kuwait and the Iraqi capital Baghdad as well as in many regions over there, but no damage was reported.