When the US administration offered to help Iran with relief and rescue in the wake of the double quake in northwest Iran that claimed over 300 lives and caused widespread destruction, and even promised to work around the sanctions to do so, Iran declined the offer saying it did not believe the US gesture was in good faith and that the country was capable of dealing with its own affairs.
The Iranian posturing, however, was completely detached from the ground reality, which had the relief and rescue efforts struggling to cope with the situation. The crippling sanctions had left hospitals without adequate supplies of even basic medicines and the relief agencies found themselves unequal to the task as relief centres overflowed with the affected people.
Rescue and relief operations were so shoddy that the people were reportedly questioning the sincerity of the authorities in handling the situation. Media reports said that an insensitive state television was mostly airing the Olympics games events while a major part of the country was reeling under the devastation wreaked by the quake, prompting the affected people to wonder how much their government cared for them.
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