Hospitals in the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd, the area where the quake hit, are full and cannot receive any more victims, Mr Reza Mohseni Sani added, calling on assistance from surrounding areas.
State television footage showed survivors in some of the worst affected areas digging through the rubble of their mud-brick homes.
Measuring 6 on the Richter scale the quake hit before dawn Friday, wiping out villages and sending scared locals fleeing their homes.
"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Mahmoud Chaharmiri told the Associated Press.
About 330 villages in western Iran suffered 40 to 100 per cent damage Mr Reza Mohseni Sani said on state television.
More casualties expected
State media quoted the local official as saying that blankets, tents, and medical supplies are urgently needed for the survivors.
But the interior ministry’s public relations director Mojtaba Mir-Abdollahi told AFP there was no need for international aid.
"According to the inspection done by the local governor-general's office, the death toll is not expected to reach 100 people," he added.
Rescue workers have been sent to the area at the epicentre of the quake, and that the number of casualties is expected to increase.
"By nightfall we will be able to give an accurate number of the casualties and the damage inflicted by the quake," Mr Reza Mohseni Sani added.
Local officials say they expect the rescue mission to be completed by nightfall, although more aftershocks are expected.
Doroud Governor Nasrollah Rashno told IRNA that the quake has cut electricity, damaged buildings in rural areas and cut telephone lines.
Bodies transferred
The bodies of two of the people killed have been transferred to Doroud, hospital official Kamran Sabzian was quoted by IRNA as saying.
The quake struck at 4:47 am local time (0117 GMT) following two earthquakes measuring 4.7 and 5.1, Iranian television quoted the national seismological institute as saying.
The Strasbourg observatory in eastern France announced an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale in western Iran at 0116 GMT Friday.
Iran is located on a seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, on average, it experiences at east one slight earthquake a day.
The worst quake in recent times hit Bam in the south of the country in December 2003 killing 31,000 people.
The most recent measuring 6 on the Richter scale shook a sparsely-populated region of south Iran on March 25.