US sought financial aid from Iran for California wildfires, says Iran's Red Crescent

Jan 14, 2025, 10:59 GMTUpdated 11:39 AM

A helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire, one of several simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County, along Mandeville Canyon, in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, US, January 11, 2025.

The head of Iran's Red Crescent Society said that the United States requested financial assistance from Iran to combat the wildfires ravaging California.

"The US has announced that it does not need rescue teams to contain the fire and has only requested financial aid, which demonstrates their weakness and humiliation," Pirhossein Kolivand told local reporters on Tuesday.

Iran's government on Saturday expressed its preparedness to help the authorities in the United States contain the ongoing fires in California, according to the spokeswoman for the Pezeshkian administration.

Kolivand did not specify how the alleged request for financial assistance was communicated, given that the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations.