Iran

Iran says ready to safeguard Iraq artifacts after ISIL attack

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The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced its readiness to protect at-risk Iraqi artifacts after the destruction of invaluable relics by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in the northern city of Mosul, Press TV reports.

“We have sent three separate letters. One to Irina Bokova, the head of the UN cultural agency, demanding swift action and practical measures to safeguard historical monuments and artifacts in Iraq,” Mohammad-Hassan Talebian, the deputy head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization told Press TV in Tehran.

Talebian added that in another missive to the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Tehran has called on its members to condemn ISIL’s “barbaric act” while in a third correspondence to Iraq’s tourism and antiquities minister Iran has offered to provide Baghdad with “any kind of help” it would need in the face of atrocities by the terrorists.

“We are ready to send a team of specialists to Iraq to collect the damaged artifacts, bring them back and restore them and keep them here until the country becomes more stable. We can also bring potentially at-risk Iraqi artifacts and keep them as long as the Iraqi government wants us to,” he noted, adding that destroying ancient artifacts and civilizations “are by no means accepted in Islamic culture.”

The ISIL terror group released a new video on February 26 showing its militants using sledgehammers and drills to smash ancient statues at the Mosul Museum, which put on display Assyrian artifacts dating back to the 9th century B.C.

The destruction of ancient artifacts in the militant-held city is believed to be the worst cultural tragedy since Iraq’s national museum was ransacked in the chaos that followed the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.

The Arab country officially reopened its national museum in the capital city of Baghdad on Saturday with officials describing it as a response to ISIL’s act of violence.

Iraq’s Deputy Tourism and Antiquities Minister Qais Hussein Rashid said the events in Mosul prompted the Iraqi authorities to speed up their work as they sought to open the national museum on Saturday “as a response to what the gangs of Daesh (ISIL) did.”

During the opening ceremony, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the “barbaric, criminal terrorists” for their action, vowing to bring them to justice.

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