Iran puts death toll from flooding at 62

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian media are reporting that the number of dead from recent flooding has risen to 62, up from 57 the day before.

A Wednesday report by the semi-official Fars news agency quotes Ahmad Shojaei, head of the country’s forensic medicine department, as saying the casualties were in various provinces that experienced flooding over the past two weeks.

Also on Wednesday, Iran President Hassan Rouhani called U.S. sanctions that have allegedly blocked international relief assistance to needy people in flood-stricken areas an “unprecedented crime.”

Iran has been facing major flooding that has struck hundreds of villages, towns and cities in the western half of the country, where authorities declared an emergency in some places.