Manassas, Virginia: North Virginia Mosque asked the Biden government to release a series of religious tiles confiscated at Dulles International Airport after they were considered to violate sanctions on Iran.
At Tuesday’s press conference at Masjid Manassas, Imam Abolfazl Nahidian said custom-made tiles were sent in June from the city of Qom Iran, to be used in the construction of a new mosque a few miles.
He said the tile was a gift and he did not pay money for them, but customs and border protection officers at the airport blocked the mosque from claiming tiles, citing sanctions.
Nahidian said he had received shipping other tiles throughout the year without incident, including one delivery which arrived eight months ago.
A letter from customs and border protection told the mass that tiles must be sent back to Iran or destroyed.
Destroying tiles, which is decorated with the verses of the Qur’an, will be very disturbing, said Nahidian.
“Destroying the same tiles by destroying the verses of the Koran, or the entire Qur’an itself,” he said.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the American-Islamic relations council, said that whatever someone’s view of Iranian sanctions, it does not make sense to Enforcing rules about benign religious artwork.
“They are not a weapon of bulk destruction,” said Awad.
“We believe the government must have common sense.
” A spokesman for customs and border protection confirmed that the tiles were placed on June 21 and on June 30, the Financial Financial Financial Asset Control Office determined that, under the sanctions enactment in Iran, tiles could not be imported.
A spokesman no end determination made on the tile disposition.
The Ministry of Finance does not respond to emails that are looking for comments on Tuesday.
Speakers at their press conference suggested that anti-Islamic sentiment might be responsible for the foreclosure.
“If this is a statue of a virgin Maria, will we be here discussing this? ‘” Rafi Uddin Ahmed, the President of the Virginia Muslim Association.
Nahidian had led a mosque for almost three decades, and sometimes pulled the supervision of the critics who said he was anti-Israel and was a support for Ayatollah in the Iranian revolution.
He has blamed September 11 attacks on Israel; In 1979, he and others chained themselves to the fence of freedom statues after going up and unfurled banners criticizing Shah Iran, which was overthrown.
Nahidian said the history was not relevant to whether tiles must be imported.