Bush Denies Policy Shift on Iran
January 02, 2004
BBC News
BBCi
US President George W Bush has said that moves to help Iran in the wake of the earthquake is not a sign of a thaw in relations with Tehran. US authorities announced on Wednesday that sanctions on the transfer of money would be eased to help relief efforts.
Senior Iranian officials welcomed the measures and said it was a positive step towards improved relations.
But Mr Bush said Tehran needed to do more if it wanted better ties with Washington.
Among these were the handing over of al-Qaeda suspects held in the country, and the end of what Mr Bush called Iran's nuclear weapons programme.
The US president was speaking on the day a memorial service was held for the victims of last Friday's earthquake in Bam.
As the city mourned the loss of up to 50,000 of its citizens, there was the odd glimmer of hope as reports - mostly unsubstantiated - surfaced of people found alive amid the rubble.
The US easing of sanctions means that, over the next 90 days, donations from American citizens and non-governmental organisations can be made to groups in Iran without needing specific authorisation from the US treasury.
Sensitive technology, including computers and satellite telephones, can also be exported to the country.
"What we're doing in Iran is we're showing the Iranian people the American people care, that they've got great compassion for human suffering," Mr Bush told reporters.
'New atmosphere'
Aid workers from the US have already joined the effort to help survivors, in the first official representation by Americans since Washington cut ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi welcomed Washington's move and said if it became permanent it would "create a new atmosphere".
Earlier, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said positive signals had been coming from the Bush administration for several months.
However, Mr Bush - on a day spent quail hunting with his father in Texas - told reporters the move did not signal a change in policy towards Iran.
"The Iranian Government must listen to the voices of those who long for freedom, must turn over al-Qaeda that are in their custody and must abandon their nuclear weapons programme," he said.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent Jim Muir says there are still elements in both Iran and the US who are hostile to the idea of re-opening dialogue.
However, the Bam earthquake has created a climate of goodwill that will make dialogue easier if the political blocks on both sides fall into place, he adds.
Saved by a wardrobe
Former President Rafsanjani was among the mourners who came to the half-built central mosque in Bam to give his condolences to the people.
The BBC's Angus Crawford, in Bam, says he spoke poetically of the palm trees that line the streets of Bam standing witness to the destruction around them.
Earlier 26-year-old Yadollah Saadat, was rescued - saved by a wardrobe that had fallen on him protecting him from falling debris.
He was taken to a field hospital in Bam and treated for dehydration and a broken hip.
His wife, Fatima, who for the last six days believed she had become a widow, told reporters she could not express her happiness.
There were unconfirmed reports from Iranian television that a pregnant woman and another man were found on Thursday and taken to hospital.
State radio said the city had seen its first wedding since the earthquake - a ceremony initially scheduled for the day the quake struck.
Medical workers also reported more good news amid the gloom as three boys were delivered in a French field hospital and two girls delivered in a Ukrainian field hospital.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3361871.stm