Iran ready to accept foreign aid except Israel
Tehran (AsiaNews/agencies) - Iran will accept humanitarian aid from all countries and international organizations "except the Zionist regime" Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said.
The announcement followed statements by foreign correspondents in Jerusalem, who reported that the Foreign Ministry had said that unofficial Israeli sources were considering sending aid to Iran. Mr. Khanjiani di not say anything about help from the US.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who once branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" for allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction, and other world leaders rushed to offer whatever help they could to the Islamic Republic. Mr. Bush said in a statement: "We stand ready to help the people of Iran."
A spokesman for the US President said Washington would be offering humanitarian aid, and a U.S. official said the State Department would be announcing an aid package soon.
The Interior Minister spokesman stressed Iran urgently needed sniffer dogs and machines that would detect eventual survivors, medicines, blankets, tents and prefabricated units.
On Saturday, the death toll of the massive earthquake in southeastern Iran is estimated to be 10,000. But reliable sources said that the number will rise as rescue operations are still under way and there are lots of people till entrapped under the debris. The number of those injured was announced to be 30,000 people until Friday night. The quake struck when many people were still asleep in their homes.
The strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 degrees on the Richter scale rocked the city of Bam in the southeastern province of Kerman early Friday.
About 70 per cent of Bam, a popular tourist spot some 1,000 km (600 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran with an historic citadel and other centuries-old buildings, was leveled. Witnesses in Bam said hundreds of corpses were bundled into trucks and the back seats of cars. Distraught relatives wailed next to bodies wrapped in blankets
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26/12/2003
29/12/2004
