Khamenehi rarely has made such post-quake visits. That is usually left to the president and cabinet. But this time, President Ahmadi-nejad flew off to Saudi Arabia to attend a meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation instead of visiting the quake zone.
His absence sparked much anger. His first vide president, 
Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, then flew to the quake region. But that didn’t seem to make much of an impression. Finally, Khamenehi himself made the trip. His website said he urged the victims to be “patient and tolerant.”
Ahmadi-nejad normally loves to make that kind of visit. And it can help burnish his image as a man of the people. So there was some speculation he might have been ordered not to go for just that reason.
But Khamenehi’s unusual visit five days after the quake couldn’t erase the public impression that the regime had bungled the response to the quake at best, and didn’t give a damn at worst.
State television virtually ignored the quake the first two days, focusing on Iran’s medals in the Olympics and its defense of the Syrian government. When the public outcry crashed down upon it, state broadcasting shifted gears and showed government aid workers handing out food and supplies and helping erect tents for the homeless. Some viewers complained the coverage smacked more of propaganda than news.
The government also backtracked on foreign assistance. It first rejected all foreign help, which is the norm for a regime dedicated to self-reliance. Trucks from the Turkish Red Crescent were stopped at the border and turned away. But Rahimi then reversed that ruling without explanation.
Aid shipments have so far come from Turkey and Armenia, which 
are closer to the quake zone than most of Iran, plus Switzerland, Qatar and Pakistan.
The United States said the Islamic Republic has ignored Washington’s offer of aid. Hassan Qadami, head of the Interior Ministry’s emergency response organization, explained the rejection. “We did not believe the US put forward the offer in good faith. We are currently having a medicine supply crisis because of sanctions. Do us a favor and lift the sanctions.” There are no sanctions on medical and pharmaceutical supplies, although financial restrictions may make it harder to buy such materials.
News reports said the Red Crescent also rejected offers from Germany, Taiwan and Russia.
Most surprisingly, Iran’s Red Crescent is not accepting contributions from other Red Crescent and Red Cross organizations around the world. The American Red Cross asked Iranian-American groups not to suggest contributions be made to it for Iran because it the Iranian Red Crescent wouldn’t take the funds. That is a dramatic change. The American Red Cross has routinely collected funds earmarked for quake victims in the past and forwarded them to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry announced Saturday, seven days after the quake, that the Iranian Red Crescent was preparing aid shipments to Myanmar to help Muslim Rohingya refugees, an ethnic group Iran has ignored for decades until now.
The area northeast of Tabriz was hit by a double earthquake August 11. They were 11 minutes and 11 kilometers apart. The US Geological Survey measured them at 6.3 and 6.2.
Two days after the quake, the government announced that the death toll was 306. Local news reports tell of many more bodies being pulled from the debris since then, but the government has not revised its number.
Many citizens were shocked when the government announced it was halting the search for the living under the wreckage less than 24 hours after the quakes hit. Many quake victims survive several days under debris. And, in fact, local news reports told of villagers pulled out alive by volunteers digging after the government halted its search efforts. The state news agency said two people were detected by dogs and dug out from the ruins of the their home on Tuesday, two days after the government said there were no more survivors to be found.
Stories were rampant about government bungling resulting in inadequate relief. Groups of people banded together to try to provide aid themselves. A New York Times reporter traveled with one convoy put together in Tehran by people who gathered contributions of supplies. “We are getting this support because people trust us to bring the aid directly to the victims,” said one of the organizers.
In the end, they did distribute everything, but not until much internal squabbling over how to distribute things and some missteps. At their first stop, they started handing out bottled water. “Please, no more water,” one villager pleaded. “We have so much we are giving it to our sheep to drink.” At another stop, villagers almost trampled each other trying to get to the goods in the truck.
The quake deaths and serious damage were confined to villages, with very little damage done to the three towns in the region—Varzaqan, Hareese and Ahar.
The gas company said pipes supplying 130 villages were severed. It said the gas supply was resumed to all but 18 in four days, and that major reconstruction would be needed to put those 18 villages back on line.
The US State Department said humanitarian aid of food and medicine (but not tents and other items) has always been exempt from sanctions as long as it is not sent to the Iranian government or to any sanctioned individual. It said financial donations will still require a special license but that such applications will be expedited b y the US Treasury.
The National Iranian-American Council and the West Asia Council jointly asked Washington to cut out the bureaucratic red tape and issue a broad general license such as the Bush Administration did after the Bam earthquake nine years ago.
On Tuesday, the Obama Administration did just that. It issued a general license allowing any non-governmental organization (NGO) to send funds up to $300,000 to Iran through October 5 for earthquake relief.
There remained confusion in the Iranian community in Canada as to what restrictions were imposed by Canadian sanctions on the provision of earthquake relief aid.