Earthquakes in Iran, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 100 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Iran. 11 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.7 on April 16, 2013 (Mashkal).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 16 (70 km NNE of Mīnāb, Iran).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.4 on June 20, 1990 (Rasht, Qazvin, Zanjan, Rudbar, Manjil), for which NOAA records 40,000 deaths. 211 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 135 of the events here, 141,544 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.4 on December 5, 2024 (31 km SE of Masjed Soleymān, Iran). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began in or off Iran, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 13.66 m, on November 27, 1945. The deadliest, on March 19, 2017, killed 2 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- December 5, 2024Earthquake · M 5.431 km SE of Masjed Soleymān, IranUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- November 12, 2017Earthquake · M 7.3Kermanshah; Iraq: Kurdistan · 630 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 19, 2017Tsunami · 3 m herePersian Gulf · 2 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 16, 2013Earthquake · M 7.7Mashkal · 40 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 26, 2003Earthquake · M 6.613 km SSW of Bam, Iran · 31,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 10, 1997Earthquake · M 7.3Birjand, Ghaen; Afghanistan · 1,728 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 20, 1990Earthquake · M 7.4Rasht, Qazvin, Zanjan, Rudbar, Manjil · 40,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 16, 1978Earthquake · M 7.452 km ESE of Tabas, Iran · 20,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 27, 1945Tsunami · 13.66 m hereMakran CoastNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Iran when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Iran is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Iran, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history