US ready to help Iran with quake aid: Rice

Blackburn (England), Mar 31: The United States is prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to Iran after an earthquake in the west of the country, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said.

''We are always prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to people around the world,'' Rice told reporters on a visit to Blackburn in northern England with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

''If you remember, the United States extended earthquake assistance to Iran at the time of the Bam earthquake and I am quite certain we would be more than prepared to do the same.'' The strong earthquake in a remote part of western Iran killed about 50 people and devastated villages, according to officials.

REUTERS