Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, has appealed to the first vice president in a letter to exclude Chogha Zanbil and Haft Tappeh, two heritage sites in Khuzestan Province, from the precincts of Shush Special Economic Zone.

The zone covers an area of 300 hectares, encompassing a part of the sites’ buffer zones.

For each historical or cultural property, a special territory is defined to provide an additional layer of protection, separate it from other sites and ensure no harm comes to the site. The protected zone is divided into three areas with Zone 1 being the closest to and Zone 3 furthest from the main site.

The heritage sites office at ICHHTO told Financial Tribune that the economic zone is adjacent to the primary buffer zone of Chogha Zanbil and Haft Tappeh.

Chogha Zanbil is the world’s oldest, best preserved and architecturally unique ziggurat located near the national heritage site of Haft Tappeh, CHTN reported.

In 1979, it became the first Iranian site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Source: Khuzestan Heritage Sites Under Threat