Bush Eases Aid Rules For Iran

Loosens 1979 Sanctions To Send Increased Earthquake Assistance

(CBS/AP)  The Bush administration plans to ease restrictions on assistance to Iran in response to the country's devastating earthquake.

Blanket licenses that would permit American firms and individuals to transfer funds to Iran will be approved in a joint announcement expected from departments of State and Treasury.

Currently it is illegal to transfer funds to Iran because of sanctions on Tehran, dating to 1979. The result is individual licenses for exceptions to the rule are required, and that can be a time-consuming process, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage placed a phone call to Iran's U.N. envoy, Javad Zariv, who was in Tehran at the time of the tragedy, and pledged U.S. assistance in light of the disaster.

But while Zariv accepted the offer and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami thanked the United States, Khatami said there could be no change in a nearly 25-year estrangement with the United States unless Washington changed its tone and behavior.

Within the Bush administration there continues to be disagreement on how to deal with Iran and on whether democratic change is in the wind in Tehran.

Secretary of Colin Powell told The Washington Post earlier in the week that there were encouraging developments in Iran and that Tehran was demonstrating a "new attitude" on some issues.

But a White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, accompanying President Bush in Crawford, Tex., cast a different spin.

"We've made clear to the Iranian government on many occasions our grave concerns regarding its support for terrorism, pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and other of its activities," Duffy said.

A team of 80 U.S. medical specialists have already set up a field hospital in the devastated ancient city of Bam. At least 12,000 people from the southeastern Iran city were injured in Friday's devastating 6.6-magnitude quake that left at least 28,000 dead.

As the Americans set up, they received a welcome from Iranians they could never have expected just a short time ago, reports CBS News Correspondent Lisa Barron. There were bouquets of red roses, bags of chocolates and pistachios and even a New Year's greeting card from Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. team of 60 doctors and 20 logistical experts joins aid teams from more than 20 countries struggling to improve the harsh living conditions for tens of thousands left homeless by the magnitude-6.6 earthquake.

"One of the things we learned is how to make things go fast," said Dr. Susan Briggs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "It was a very hazardous area much like this."

The group also includes a team of structural engineers and communications experts from the Fairfax County, Va., Fire Department, reports CBS News Early Show Correspondent Thalia Assuras.

A top priority in the days ahead is to prevent the outbreak of typhoid or cholera — though there have been no reports of epidemics yet, said Marty Bahamonde, a spokesman for the U.S. delegation.

Bill Garvelink, the U.S. Agency for International Development official leading the team, met with several Iranian ministers after the team arrived Tuesday in what he said was probably the first official meetings between American and Iranian officials since Washington cut diplomatic links after the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

"We don't focus on political issues," Garvelink said. President Mohammad Khatami thanked Washington on Tuesday but stressed that the aid did nothing to change frosty political ties.

"I think that the bridging of this gap people-to-people is an important thing and, I think, particularly in a time of crisis," Briggs told Assuras.

However in a reflection of the political sensitivity of the U.S. presence in Iran, there is no plan to raise an American flag over the team's camp — though other foreign aid teams display a national flag, said Bahamonde.

Iranian health officials said they had all but given up hope of finding survivors buried under the rubble and focused on determining the medical and health needs of the city's remaining population, said Mohammad Nickam, a top Health Ministry official.

"There's no hope of finding people alive," Nickam said. The ministry has divided the city into 10 zones, each of which is under surveillance by health officials that were called in from neighboring provinces.

Friday's earthquake struck before sunrise, entombing thousands of sleeping residents in their homes. The city's mud-brick houses, constructed without supporting metal or wooden beams, crumbled into small chunks and powdery dust.

Bam's 2,000 year-old citadel, the world's largest medieval mud fortress, was largely destroyed by the quake. The tallest section, including a distinctive square tower, crumbled like a sand castle.

Khatami said Tuesday a committee of foreign experts would determine how best to go about rebuilding the citadel.

"We will rebuild the Bam citadel as the symbol of some 3,000 years of history in this part of Iran," said Khatami, adding that the U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, had offered to help. UNESCO had considered declaring the citadel a protected World Heritage Site.