Iraq asks Iran on looted treasures

Iraq has asked again for Tehran's help to return any of the thousands of treasured antiquities smuggled out of Iraq since 2003 which may have ended up in neighbouring Iran, an official said yesterday. Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for the Tourism and...

Iraq has asked again for Tehran's help to return any of the thousands of treasured antiquities smuggled out of Iraq since 2003 which may have ended up in neighbouring Iran, an official said yesterday.

Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, said that Minister Qahtan Abbas al-Jibouri had met last week in Baghdad with an Iranian tourism official and the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi.

Iraq wants any information Iran may have on the whereabouts of any antiquities smuggled across Iraq's eastern border, including pieces looted from Iraq's national museum and those dug up from archaeological sites across Iraq, some of which date back as far as ancient Mesopotamian civilisation.

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