The head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has urged Iranian expats to report stolen Iranian artifacts to the organization to help return the relics home.
“One of the government’s top priorities is to bring back Iranian artifacts that have been smuggled out of the country over the past several decades,” Masoud Soltanifar was quoted as saying by ISNA.
He called on Iranians overseas to use the organization’s online portal, www.ichto.ir, to share with the organization information they may have regarding stolen artifacts.
“We’ll use diplomatic and legal channels to ensure the relics are returned,” he said.
Four shipments of Iranian artifacts have been delivered to Iran over the past two years, the most recent of which was on Monday and included 73 royal seals dating back to the Sassanid era (224 – 651).
