Iran has declared Tuesday a day of mourning for the more than 400 people, who died after a powerful earthquake struck its border region with Iraq.

The Cabinet expressed its condolences to the families of the dead and wished the injured a swift recovery, it said in a statement, according to state-run news wire IRNA.

The government said that at least 430 people had been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the quake, which struck late Sunday and had its epicentre in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah.

Media reports put the dead at 450.

Most of the quake victims were in Iran, with the highest casualties reported from the Kermanshah town of Sarpol-e Zahab, though eight people also died and more than 500 were injured in Iraq.

 is set to visit the affected areas on Tuesday.

NAN