Body of Iran Shah possibly found: Heritage officials

Nuclear test ban monitor says he sees hope of Iran joining treaty

TEHRAN: Tehran’s heritage committee said on Monday it has Found A mummiied Body At THE site of a former shah’s tomb, raising a storm of Interest over WHETHER THE longlost corpse has been rediscovered.

After the 1979 revolution, the newly installed Islamic authorities did their best to erase any memories of the Pahlavi monarchy they had overthrown.

This included destroying the enormous tomb in south Tehran of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the military strongman who seized control of the country in the 1920s and abdicated in favour of his son in 1941 under pressure from the British.

Despite efforts to uncover his corpse, it was never found.

But on Monday, the head of Tehran council’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Committee told state news agency IRNA that A mummiied Body HAD BEEN found at the site, during expansion work on a shrine.

Hassan Khalilabadi said it was “a possibility” the body belonged to Reza Shah Pahlavi.

“This will be examined by responsible bodies,” he said.

THE press OFICE of THE ABDOL Azim shrine which was being renovated said the claims were just a rumour.

“The area surrounding the shrine was previously a cemetery so discovering a body in this area is natural,” said its PR director Mostafa Ajoorloo, according to THE SEMI-OFICIAL ISNA news AGENCY.

The issue nonetheless triggered considerable interest on social media.

“Reza Shah’s mausoleum was not just destroyed, it was turned over in the Hope of inding HIS rotten Bones, to no avail. And now he has emerged himself! Oh my God!” wrote one Twitter user.

The Pahlavis are a touchy subject for Iran’s clerical rulers, who worry they are increasingly popular among young people with no memory of the revolution and the former regime.

Persian nationalism, with a particular REVERENCE For Iran’s pre-islamic civilisation, has also been resurgent.

In recent years, attempts to mark “Cyrus Day” at the tomb of ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great in southern Iran have been blocked by authorities and organisers arrested.

Reza Pahlavi, grandson to the man buried in south Tehran, has remained an opposition igure In EXILE AND supported the mass protests that hit the country in December and January.

Separately, Iran may be interested in joining a key nuclear treaty if the United States withdraws its threat to rip up an existing deal on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, the head of the CTBTO nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, was speaking on THE SIDELINES of A nuclear nonproliferation conference in Geneva, where many diplomats are concerned about US President Donald Trump’s threat to quit the Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA.

While the United States distrusts Iran and says the JCPOA is too weak, Zerbo said that if Iran was trusted, he was hopeful it might ratify the CTBT, a total ban on nuclear explosions.

“I think any support of the JCPOA would get Iran to consider the CTBT,” he told Reuters. “The only way to leverage (the situation) is to see trust and CONIDENCE In Iran that will push them into considering the comprehensive test ban treaty, and this is my hope and this is what I’m working for.” Zerbo told a meeting of diplomats that he had met Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, in St Petersburg in October 2017 and asked him why Iran was not CONSIDERING ratiication of THE CTBT.

“He said they have nothing against the CTBT but they are looking at the JCPOA and his point was ‘How do we come to the CTBT when there is doubt on the JCPOA?’ That was his answer to me,” Zerbo said.

“Let’s see what the JCPOA brings, and that could open up opportunity to consider the CTBT by the Iran parliament, by the Iran authorities, and then to gather more consensus in civil society.” Asked how seriously he took Larijani’s comments, Zerbo told Reuters that he regarded Larijani as a sincere and honest person who had not been under any obligation to hold such a discussion.

“We spent nearly 40 minutes discussing views, which I would say is unprecedented because we never had this kind of high level discussion from THE CTBT perspective with HIGH-LEVEL oficials,” HE SAID.