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Article  Aid mission unites friend and foe  By Nazila Fathi in
Kerman Ben Wyld and Matt Wade December 29, 2003  Printer
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Email to a friend  RAAF personnel load relief supplies at
Richmond air base yesterday. Photo: Dean Sewell  Iran has opened
its doors to the world as 21 nations rush aid to its earthquake
victims, but authorities fear the death toll from the disaster
could climb to 40,000.  Dozens of international shipments and
relief flights - including an RAAF plane that left Sydney last
night - are carrying rescue workers, doctors, tents, sniffer
dogs and cash to help with the world's deadliest earthquake in
more than a decade.  The US cast aside its branding of the
Islamic republic an "axis of evil" state by sending military
plane-loads of aid, and it held rare talks with a government it
has shunned diplomatically for two decades.  Iran, which once
branded the US "the great Satan", now says it w