A man walks past the debris of a destroyed building in Ahar in northwest Iran on Monday, August 13. Two earthquakes that hit northwestern Iran killed more than 300 people and injured more than 3,000.
Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Rescue operations have ended in Iran after two strong earthquakes that killed at least 250 people, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday.
Another 1,800 people were injured in the quakes that shook East Azarbaijan province in northwest Iran on Saturday, the report said, citing Deputy Interior Minister Hassan Qaddami.
State-run Press TV said more than 2,000 were injured, while the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said the death toll could be as high as 300.
250 killed as strong quakes jolt northwestern Iran
Scores of villages were destroyed or damaged by the quakes.
Qaddami, speaking to Fars, said a total of 110 villages were damaged.
Iran searches for quake victims
Dozens killed, hundreds injured in Iran
"All those under debris have been rescued and the quake-stricken people are now being provided with their basic needs," said Qaddami.
Thousands of tents were set up throughout the stricken region, and tens of thousands of cans of food were distributed, Iranian officials said.
The quakes damaged historic monuments, including the roof of Shahabeddin Ahari's tomb and the Qasem Khan Ahari house, among other sites, Press TV said.
Pope Benedict XVI said his thoughts were with those affected, as well as others facing natural disasters, IRNA reported. Other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressed condolences. The United Arab Emirates offered assistance, IRNA reported.
The quakes struck near Tabriz, the country's fourth-largest city.
The cities of Ahar and Varzagan are the hardest hit, Khalil Saei, the provincial director of crisis management, told IRNA.
The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.4, hit Saturday at 4:53 p.m. local time, 37 miles northeast of Tabriz, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which measured 11 aftershocks. Just 11 minutes later, a second quake, measuring 6.3, struck 30 miles northeast of Tabriz.
A series of aftershocks followed, including one measuring 4.4 magnitude, according to the USGS. There were no immediate reports of further damage or casualties.
Authorities asked residents to spend the night outdoors as a safety precaution.
Iran sits on major fault lines -- the collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates -- and has been prone to devastating earthquakes.
Nine years ago, 30,000 people died in an earthquake in Bam in southeastern Kerman province. In 1990, about 50,000 were killed in a quake near the Caspian Sea.
CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
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People remove belongings from collapsed buildings in Ahar in northwest Iran on Monday.
A woman stands among the debris of her destroyed home.
Iranians mourn over the covered bodies of loved ones in the village of Baje-Baj, Iran, on Sunday, August 12.
An Iranian man and woman stand on top of the rubble of their destroyed house in the village of Baje-Baj on Sunday.
A woman describes how she lost her sister and brother as two earthquakes shook her house in the village of Amir-Ali Kandi.
Rescuers search for survivors after an earthquake in Varzaqan, Iran, on Sunday.
An Iranian woman cries after the earthquake.
Iranian residents and rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a house in the village Baje-Baj.
An Iranian resident from the village of Baje-Baj, near the town of Varzaqan, stands on top of the rubble of his destroyed home.
Rescue teams search for victims in the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The village of Ishkhal lies in rubble after two earthquakes hit the area Saturday. A third quake with a magnitude of 4.0 struck Sunday.
Iranian Red Crescent workers remove a victim of the earthquake on Sunday in the rubble of Bajeh Baj, a village located in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.
Residents walk among the rubble of destroyed buildings in the village of Amir-Ali Kandi.
Iranians in Bajeh Baj mourn the death of loved ones killed in the disaster.
Bodies recovered from the rubble lie covered as villagers mourn their deaths.
A woman attempts to comfort a fellow villager as she mourns the loss of a loved one in Bajeh Baj.
An Iranian family sits by a tent they erected along a street in Varzaqan, a town located 37.2 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Tabriz, Iran.
Aided by searchlights, residents and rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a village near Varzaqan on Saturday.
A woman is pulled from the rubble of a house in a village near Varzaqan.
Residents and rescue workers sift through the rubble to find any survivors and recover victims of the earthquakes near the town of Varzaqan.
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