Row over plans for luxury villas around Iran’s highest peak
IN PERSIAN mythology, the archer Arash Kamangir is said to have fired an arrow to the peak of Mount Damavand, warding off invaders and securing the future of an empire.
But Iran’s 18,000ft volcano could be facing an assault that ancient Persian heroes cannot fight off, after it was claimed that parts of land bought recently by the regime’s religious authorities would be turned into luxury villas.
The powerful religious agency Awqaf, which answers to Iran’s supreme leader, has obtained an endowment deed for one of the 11 parcels of land that make up the mountain area, according to the Iranian newspaper
Hamshahri. “Investigations reveal that the Awqaf has secured an endowment deed for one out of 11 registered parcels of Mount Damavand, from the foothills to the summit,” said the report.
Local media reports warned that the mountain was going to be cut up into slices like a cake, adding that local residents fear Damavand’s pastures could soon be bulldozed and replaced with “luxury hotels and villas”. Some prominent Iranians have been angered by those reports, with one of the country’s vice-presidents warning that no one, not even the Supreme Leader, should be allowed to use the land for commercial affairs. “Mount Damavand is a symbol of our country covered by the highest degree of protection and according to our constitution no body or entity has the right to seize it or use it for business purposes,” wrote Masoumeh Ebtekar on Twitter.
It is not the only dispute that is fuelling resentment in Iran. The gated community of Basti Hills, which is regarded as Iran’s answer to Beverly Hills, has been embroiled in a bribery case. A senior former Iranian official, who has a large property portfolio in the Lavasan area, is on trial for charges of bribery and money laundering, which he denies. A cleric in the Lavasan area vented his frustration about not being allowed to address the scandal in an interview with the pro-regime news agency Iran University Student News.
The Sunday Telegraph approached Iran’s embassy in London for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.