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U.S. Says Iran Accepts Aid, OPEC Gives Grant to Iran
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| Saturday's
quake in northwestern Iran killed 229 people and injured 1,300
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WASHINGTON,
June 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States said
Tuesday, June 25, that Iran had accepted an offer of U.S. humanitarian
assistance for victims of a deadly earthquake that hit Iran Saturday,
June 22.
U.S.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington had been
formally notified that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami had
requested the aid and that efforts were now underway to get the
material to the quake-stricken area, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
“We
have heard that officially from them and steps are under way to get
that moving,” he told reporters.
“We’ll
have to work out with them how to make it go.”
Boucher
would not describe how the Iranians had signaled their acceptance of
the offer, but on Monday, June 24, he said that Washington had made
the offer through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which handles U.S.
interests in the Islamic republic.
The
specific items that Iran requested were not immediately known but the
U.S. offer relayed through the Swiss included food, water purification
equipment and temporary shelter material.
The
offer of assistance followed a message sent to the Iranian people by
U.S. President George W. Bush after Saturday’s quake in northwestern
Iran that killed 229 people and injured 1,300.
“I
extend my condolences and those of the American people to the families
of the many victims in the cities and villages affected by this tragic
event,” Bush said, making a general offer of assistance.
“Human
suffering knows no political boundaries. We stand ready to assist the
people of Iran as needed and as desired,” he said.
Bush
has characterized Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, as one-third
of an “axis of evil” bent on supporting terrorists and on
developing weapons of mass destruction.
About
9,500 homes and buildings were destroyed in the quake, mainly in
villages around the town of Avaj in the south of Qazvin, the epicenter
of the devastating quake that registered 6.3 on the Richter scale,
according to Iranian officials.
Meanwhile,
the OPEC oil cartel announced Tuesday an emergency grant of 200,000
dollars to Iran after the earthquake, AFP said.
The
grant, by the OPEC Fund for International Development, will help buy
relief items for the victims of the quake in the province of Qazvin,
said a statement carried by the OPECNA news agency.
“In
addition to loss of life, scores of villages have been damaged or
destroyed entirely, and many are cut off from basic utility services
such as electricity and water,” said the statement.
The
“essential” relief material bought with the OPEC grant would be
channeled through the International Federation of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies (IFRCS), it added.
A
fresh quake measuring 4.0 degrees shook parts of Qazvin city on
Tuesday, the state IRNA news agency reported.
Iran
is a key member of the 11-country Arab-dominated Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Its oil ministers are currently
meeting in Vienna to discuss production quotas, among other issues.
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