Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 15 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
The U.S. has no good intentions regarding the quake victims in Iran's East Azerbaijan province, Head of Iran's anti-crisis department Hossein Qadami said, MEHR reported.
"If they really wanted to help out, they could have halted the sanctions, so that Iran could import necessary medicine from abroad," Qadami said.
Several days ago the U.S. said its citizens can donate food and medicine to Iran without fear of prosecution after the heavily sanctioned nation was hit by twin earthquakes.
The National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group for the US-based community, has called on the Obama administration to ensure that relief efforts "are not obstructed due to the dispute between the US and Iranian governments."
It said that president George W. Bush's administration in 2003 issued a general license to allow relief organizations to provide assistance to Iran after the Bam earthquake killed some 31,000 people.
Qadami noted that although Iran did not ask for any kind of help, several countries have provided assistance to the quake victims. Among those countries are Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Qatar.
While the U.S. has also offered its help, the Iranian government has denied.
Qadami said thus far there are 253 people dead, and some 1380 people injured as a result of a series of quakes.
The Healthcare ministry says different, as their stats claim 306 people are dead, with over 2000 being injured.
Qadami said in the near future there will be definitive statistics on the quake victims.
On Tuesday afternoon a quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit Iranian East Azerbaijan province again, MNA reported.
The quake happened at 6:32 p.m. local time in Varzaqan, the same city that was hit by two strong quakes on Saturday which left over 300 dead and many more injured. The quake was felt in Tabriz, the capital of East Azarbaijan Province.
Many aftershocks have followed the Saturday earthquakes which measured 6 and 6.2. on the Richter scales. However, the aftershock that hit the region again on Tuesday terrified the people.
The geophysics institute of Tehran University said the quake with the magnitude of 5.3 happened at the depth of six kilometers under the ground.
