Former Ambassador Says Iran Has Not Responded to Offers of Help Following Quake

Mansour Farhang is a former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations.

He says the Iranian government has so far not responded to the international community’s offers of humanitarian assistance for victims of the earthquake.

Fahrang says countries such as Turkey, Russia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and humanitarian organizations UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders have offered to help.

Farhang tells anchor Marco Werman this political posturing from Iran and “an absurd way of trying to say that the sanctions have not affected Iran’s situation, but in this particular case the victims are suffering, and there is no question that the people under those circumstances would welcome assistance, regardless of where it cones from.”

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Marco Werman: Now, you no doubt heard about those powerful earthquakes in Iran over the weekend. Well, Iran has raised the death toll from Saturday’s earthquakes to more than 300 people. Thousands more were injured when the twin quakes hit villages in Iran’s northwest. The government there said yesterday it’s moving from search and rescue to relief efforts. But some say the government’s not doing enough. Mansour Farhang is a former Iranian diplomat. He’s a professor of political science at Bennington college. He says he’s concerned that Iran has refused offers of outside help.

Mansour Farhang: Shortly after the news of the quake reached international media, Mr. Abolhassan Faghih, Director of Iran’s Red Crescent, announced that the country does not need international assistance. In my view, this decision must have been made at the very top of Iran’s political hierarchy and the purpose was and is to claim that in spite of severe economic sanctions against the country, Iran remains self sufficient to deal with the emergency situation. In other words, some decision was made to politicize this tragedy and yet the head of the emergency office at the interior ministry, Mr. Hassan Ghadami, he expressed concerns that the victims basic needs such as food, shelter, and medicine are not being met adequately. And today, as you mentioned, members of parliament and a number of Iranian newspapers have been complaining about the reluctance or inability of government agencies to reach the victims.

Werman: And tell us who exactly has offered to help at this point.

Farhang: Four neighboring countries – Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, and United Arab Emirates – have announced their readiness to send help but Iran is yet to welcome their offer. Yesterday Germany, Singapore, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders offered help and there was no response from the Iranian government.

Werman: You’re a former Iranian ambassador to the U.N. I mean given the economic pressures in Iran under sanctions right now, it just seems bizarre that they wouldn’t accept the assistance. I mean you say this is a political posture. What is the political posture that they’re trying to communicate right now?

Farhang: The political posture that they have a constituency inside the country as well as perhaps some supporters beyond the border on the popular level however limited it might be, that they want to show pride. They want to show strength. This is really an absurd way of trying to say that the sanctions have not affected Iran’s situation, but in this particular case the victims are suffering, and there is no question that the people under those circumstances would welcome assistance, regardless of where it cones from.

Werman: Now in 2003 I think many of our listeners will remember the earthquake that hit the Iranian city of Bam leaving more than 25,000 people dead. What was Iran’s position then with regards to foreign aid?

Farhang: Iran immediately welcomed international assistance and many international organizations, non-governmental as well as many governments across the world, sent Iranian 2003 and the most interesting one was that following the earthquake in Bam the Bush administration issued a general license to enable relief organizations to provide services in Iran because at that time some people thought that providing services to Iran might contradict regulations of sanctions. But the White House issued an order in order to eliminate that possibility and relief effort at the time, they were very helpful in the immediate sense but so far I would say the Obama administration is very likely to do the same – that is to say to be open to the kind of requests that President Bush made in 2003 but that request is yet to come.

Werman: Mansour Farhang, a professor of political science at Bennington College in Vermont. Thank you so much for your time.

Farhang: Thank you very much. My pleasure.

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