After Iraq, will Bush destroy archaeological treasures of Iran?

This video from the USA is called: Seymour Hersh on planned invasion of Iran.

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

Iran’s rich architecture and rare treasures threatened by possible US strikes

· Many ancient remains are close to nuclear plants
· Archaeologists anxious to avoid repeat of Iraq chaos

Maev Kennedy

Monday March 5, 2007

In his quiet office at the British Museum, among the portraits of long-dead explorers and copies of 3,000-year-old inscriptions, one of the greatest experts on the archaeology of the Middle East has a series of maps of Iranian nuclear installations spread out across his desk.

John Curtis’s maps fill him with foreboding: because they show how many of Iran’s nuclear plants are perilously close to ancient cultural sites.

Natanz, home to a uranium enrichment plant, is renowned for its exquisite ceramics; Isfahan, home to a uranium conversion plant, is also a Unesco world heritage site and was regarded in the 16th century as the most beautiful city on earth. …

Four years ago Dr Curtis was warning that war in Iraq would be a disaster for some of the oldest and most important sites in the world.

He has since seen his worst fears confirmed: the site of ancient Babylon became an American military base; thousands of objects are missing from the national museum at Baghdad; and looted artefacts have been illicitly excavated and smuggled out of the country.

Now Dr Curtis dreads seeing history repeated, this time through the escalating threat from the United States against Iran.

Fears of US-Iran war, and Azerbajian and Turkey: here.

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