Brazen-Faced Iran Offers To Help Flood-Hit Ukrainians

The head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Pir-Hossein Kolivand
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Pir-Hossein Kolivand

In a brazen move, Iran’s Red Crescent Society has offered to help Ukrainians who are hit by floods after Russia blew up Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.

The head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, sent a letter to the president of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, Mykola Polishchuk, expressing readiness to send relief teams and humanitarian aid to the flood-hit regions in what could be perceived as a move to save face in the wake of revelations that Iranian drones and weaponry has been sent to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The destruction of the facility by Russian forces on Tuesday unleashed mass flooding, forcing thousands of residents to flee and wreaking environmental havoc.

Audaciously, Kolivand even described the destruction of the dam as a “tragic incident” as he downplayed the devastation Russia continues to deal to Ukraine's civilians. The latest attack on the dam affected the lives of a large number of innocent people, forcing the evacuations of residents of surrounding villages.

Kolivand claimed that the Islamic Republic's principled policy is to help other countries based on humanitarian grounds to protect the lives of innocent people and reduce their suffering, the gesture unlikely to be taken seriously amidst months of uprising which has seen hundreds of civilians killed by the regime's security forces and tens of thousands more arrested.

It is likely to anger Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky who said last month that “thanks to the sanctions, the number of missiles they [the Russians] produce has decreased several times. However, there are such challenges as Iran which has sold them [Russia] more than 1,000 Iranian-made drones and other weapons.”

Iran first denied it had supplied drones to Russia but in early November foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian admitted the deliveries, while claiming they were sent before the Russian invasion. Recent intelligence reports suggest that Tehran may also be planning to supply long-range missiles to Russia.