U.S., Iran Hold High Level Talks on Quake Relief
Yahoo! News
Dec 28, 2003
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - High level U.S. and Iranian officials put aside diplomatic differences to directly discuss humanitarian aid after the earthquake that killed tens of thousands of Iranians, a State Department official said on Saturday.
Spokesman Lou Fintor told reporters the discussion took place in a phone call between Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"Given the urgency of the situation we deemed direct contact to be the most appropriate channel," Fintor said.
The White House said earlier the United States would send government and civilian emergency workers and 150,000 pounds of medical supplies to Iran following the quake that razed much of the ancient Silk Road city of Bam and killed about 20,000 people.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement that the United States was working with Iranian authorities, the United Nations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Washington broke relations with the Islamic republic after students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
President Bush (news - web sites), in his 2002 State of the Union speech, branded Iran as part of an "axis of evil." But the president offered condolences to the families of the dead and injured on Friday and promised the United States would provide humanitarian aid.
U.S. officials usually communicate with Tehran through intermediaries, often channeling messages through Swiss diplomats.
Fintor played down the diplomatic significance of the direct contacts with Iran.
"There is no political angle. There is a humanitarian catastrophe in Iran and our only mission is to alleviate the human suffering associated with yesterday's earthquake," he said.
Iran's quick acceptance of help contrasts with its rejection in 1990 of outside doctors, workers, blood supplies, sniffer dogs and used clothes after an earthquake claimed 36,000 lives and injured 100,000 people.
The United Sates will send medical response teams from Boston, Los Angeles and Virginia and disaster experts from government agencies, McClellan said. The U.S. military will deliver medical supplies from bases in Kuwait, said the spokesman, who was with Bush at his Texas ranch.
Separately, World Vision, a major U.S.-based humanitarian relief organization, announced it plans to airlift supplies to Iran next week.
World Vision said it would send an airlift of $250,000 worth of supplies including plastic sheeting and water purification tablets and equipment.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=3&u=/nm/20031228/pl_nm/quake_iran_usa_dcSpectacular medieval complex on Old Silk Road now lies in ruins
By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent
27 Dec, 2003
INDEPENDENT Daily, UK
The old part of Bam was one of the world's most spectacular and best-preserved deserted medieval cities.
In architectural and archaeological terms, the ancient Middle Eastern palace city was of major international importance. Surrounded by a magnificent 16th-century city wall, and entered into through complex gateways, the old town has long been famous in Iran for its vast urban landscape of abandoned houses, shops and mosques.
At the heart of the medieval city, inner ramparts enclosed the spectacular palace citadel. It lies on the Old Silk Road, the ancient trading route that connected East Asia to Europe by camel caravans, and flourished as a trading centre and pilgrimage site.
Bam was founded more than 1,500 years ago, and in pre-Islamic times was a centre for the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. However, many of Bam's old buildings actually date from somewhat later - the 16th and 17th centuries. The thousands of deserted buildings in the old city (which once covered 6 sq km and had a population of up to 13,000) are all made of mud-brick, clay and palm tree timber.
The new town - adjacent to the old one - is densely inhabited and was constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries after its predecessor had been attacked by Afghan and other invaders in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The deserted parts of the old city were regarded by archaeologists and architectural historians as one of the most complete surviving records of a medieval/early modern urban environment anywhere in the world.
It was used as an army barracks until 1932, after which it was abandoned.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=476256