President Hu Jintao sent a letter of condolence Tuesday to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami over the heavy casualties and property losses caused by a powerful earthquake in southeast Iran.  

In the message, Hu offered his deepest sympathies to Khatami, to the victims and their relatives. 

Tehran University's Geophysics Institute said the quake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, struck Zarand, a small town in Kerman Province, at 05:55 local time (0225 GMT) on Tuesday.

Zarand is some 200 km northwest of Bam where nearly 26,200 people died in a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale in December 2003.

Iran is situated on some of the world's most active seismic fault lines and frequently witnesses quakes of varying magnitudes.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2005)