Israel Offers Aid to Iran Following Earthquake

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has offered aid to the victims of the earthquake that left hundreds of people dead in Iran.

Netanyahu made the offer in a video conference with the Jewish Federations of North America, arguing that while the governments of Israel and Iran have no diplomatic relations, Israel was still willing to give help the Iranian people.

The earthquake, which struck near the Iranian-Iraqi border, killed more than 400 people, injured hundreds and left thousands without homes.

Netanyahu said the offer was made through the International Committee of the Red Cross and Israeli media reported that Iran promptly turned it down.

Neither Iran and Iraq recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Iran’s conservative elite regularly threatens Israel with destruction and Israeli leaders have long warned about Tehran’s ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon.

A landmark nuclear agreement signed with world powers in July 2015 saw crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy lifted in return for a pulling back of its nuclear programme. Israel has still railed against the deal, arguing that it hands the Iranian regime hundreds of millions of dollars back in frozen assets it can use to fund proxy groups in the Middle East.