Israel made an attempt at furthering peace with an offer of technical and medical assistance to Iran following the Bam earthquake.
The reaction from the Ayatollahs was such that you might have thought someone had tried to lift up their man-dresses
Welcome to the Jewish Independent
When the massive earthquake levelled the town of Bam, in Iran, killing an estimated 30,000 people, the world's aid agencies and governments moved into action to offer what they could of humanitarian aid. A question immediately arose about whether the fundamentalist Islamic government of Iran would welcome assistance from the United States, the "great satan" with whom Iran has had ill relations since 1979. No sweat, came the response, Iran will accept aid from any country – except the "Zionist regime."