President Rouhani calls for immediate measures following earthquake

Following the earthquake that struck the western and central provinces of Iran, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani had a phone talk with the interior minister on Sunday night where he was informed of the rescue operations and gave subsequent orders.

A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake has hit the border region between Iran and Iraq, killing at least 211 people, almost all of them in Iran.

The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at around 09:18 pm local time on Sunday (0040 GMT on Monday), was 32 kilometers south of the Iraqi city of Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and just across the border from Iran, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).