TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has granted a number of rescue workers killed in a boat accident in the recent flooding in northeastern Iran the title of martyrs.
Upon a request submitted by the Leader’s representative in the province of Golestan, Ayatollah Khamenei granted the six men whose boat capsized in the city of Gomishan the title "martyrs of service.”
A number of the martyrs were local Sunni Muslims.
The boat carrying a team of voluntary forces trying to protect Gomishan from the flood waters capsized on March 26, killing six people.
Record spring rainfall in the past weeks caused serious flooding in many areas, mainly the provinces of Golestan, Lorestan, Khuzestan, Fars and Ilam, forcing thousands to leave their homes.
The Army, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and volunteer Basij have deployed their forces, heavy military machinery, aircraft and boats to help those affected.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) on Sunday once again said U.S. sanctions are preventing foreign aid from reaching the country.
Speaking to ISNA), IRCS head Ali Asghar Peyvandi said that the International Red Cross Society (RCS) has approved 500,000 euros (approximately $570,000) in aid for the flood-stricken people in Iran, but the IRCS has not received it.
EU's aid money has also not been deposited in the IRCS' bank account, he added.
"We have told the RCS that the sanctions imposed on Tehran should not harm the Iranian people," Peyvandi asserted, adding, "We have urged RCS to pave the way for financial aid to reach Iran, in any way possible."
The Red Crescent, he said, is reliant on non-financial help, such as a recent rescue package of boats and equipment worth €300,000 ($340,000) from Germany.
Floods have caused an estimated $2.5 billion in damage to roads, bridges, homes and agricultural land, state media cited ministers as telling lawmakers on Sunday.
The flooding, which began on March 19, has killed 76 people, forced more than 220,000 people into emergency shelters, and left aid agencies struggling to cope.
"The recent floods are unprecedented... 25 provinces and more than 4,400 villages have been affected,” Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying in parliament by state news agency IRNA.
Fazli said the floods had caused around 350 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) worth of damage.
Minister of Roads and Urban Development Muhammad Eslami said 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of roads had been damaged and more than 700 bridges completely destroyed by landslides and flood water.
The government has said it will pay compensation to all those who have incurred losses, especially farmers.
Morteza Shahidzadeh, head of Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, said President Hassan Rouhani had asked permission from Ayatollah Khamenei to withdraw $2 billion from the fund for reconstruction in flood-hit areas.
Shahidzadeh said Ayatollah Khamenei has in principle agreed to the request.
Karim Zobeidi, an official at the National Iranian Oil Company, was cited as saying on Sunday that it was still too early to estimate the extent of the flood damage to Iran’s energy sector.
Mehr news agency also quoted Zobeidi as saying that some oil wells in western Iran had been closed as a precaution to guard against any flooding.