Speaking in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, Rayeesi sympathized with the Turkish government and nation over the powerful earthquake in the country.

Iran's president voiced Tehran’s readiness to provide immediate help to the neighboring state, expressing hope that the Turkish government would take the necessary measures to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

Noting that apart from neighborliness, Iran and Turkey are friendly and brotherly countries, he stated that the Iranian government and nation are standing by Turkiye in these tough times.

President Erdogan, for his part, hailed the offer of sympathy and good-will of President Rayessi.

He said that the recent quake was Turkey’s biggest earthquake of the past 50 years, expressing hope that his country will be able to accomplish preliminary rescue measures at the earliest.

In another phone call on Tuesday, the Iranian president talked to his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad.

Rayeesi offered his condolences to the “Syrian brothers and sisters” over the earthquake, saying, “The Islamic Republic has always stood by the Syrian nation and government at difficult times and it is now ready to provide immediate relief to the Syrian victims of the earthquake.”

Assad, for his part, thanked the Iranian president for his call and sympathy with Syria.

Damascus, he added, wants to benefit from the Islamic Republic’s experiences and capabilities in order to improve relief efforts in Syria, which was hit by its first earthquake in the past 250 years.

Rayeesi agreed to Assad’s request to use Iran’s experiences in dealing with natural disasters, including earthquakes, and to send a technical team to Syria.

A 7.8 magnitude tremor, one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years, struck Southeastern Turkey and Northwestern Syria early Monday, killing at least 9,000 people, injuring tens of thousands more and reducing hundreds of buildings to rubble.

Freezing weather conditions are further endangering survivors and complicating rescue efforts, as at least 100 aftershocks have struck the region.