Quake eases Iran-US ties

Relief workers in Bam said shopkeeper Yadollah Saadat was found alongside the corpses of six dead relatives. ‘‘They thought he was dead and then realised he was alive,’’ his 22-year-old wife, Fatimeh Asghari, said. ‘‘I can’t express how happy I am,’’ she said.

Iran state radio said a nine-year-old girl covered with dust and dirt was also rescued from the rubble of her family’s flattened house. She is said to be in a fragile condition.

During a memorial service at Bam’s Friday Mosque, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the number killed in the quake was ‘‘probably 30,000 and some say more’’.

But he pointed to a possible positive side effect, saying that recent developments could have an impact on hostile relations between Washington and Tehran. ‘‘I’m not sure, but the signs indicate that,’’ the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

President Mohammad Khatami’s brother went further, implying the US response to the earthquake might win an unspecified reciprocal gesture from Iran.

Government officials have said the final death toll from the quake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, may reach 50,000. —(Reuters)