he is starting action to take the property away from the British government.
The garden in north Tehran has been a subject of controversy for the better part of the past decade, with politicians charging that Britain occupies the grounds illegally. Every year or so, there is another round of shouting and demands that the property be seized from the British. But beyond the shouting, nothing has ever been done.
The property in question is a large green area in the North Tehran neighborhood of Qolhak. It has been in British hands since the 19th Century. The British ambassador lives there as do many diplomats assigned to the embassy, which is in the middle of Tehran. The garden is also home to the British Council and the British International School.
Similar residential gardens are owned by the Russians, Turks and Germans just to the north of the British garden. But no issue has been made of those other gardens.
The gardens were given to the embassies during the reign of Nasireddin Shah in the second half of the 19th Century. Iranian officials have at various times given many conflicting accounts. Some say the British seized the land illegally from the start. Others have said Iran was coerced to give the British the land. In the latest explanation, Britain leased the land in 1872, but the lease expired decades ago during the reign of Reza Shah and Britain never vacated the land. Britain says the land was deeded over to Britain like the main embassy property on Ferdowsi Avenue and belongs to the UK government in perpetuity just like the embassy itself.
In the latest uproar, Iranian officials have said that Britain cut down and burned 310 trees on the grounds in violation of Iranian environmental laws, which would not apply if the land were embassy property.
Mayor Qalibaf said he was shocked, shocked by this violation. “One of the darkest cases in the Iranian people’s historical memories pertains to the British government,” he said last week. “Its hostile attitude can be seen in its conduct in the Qolhak Garden.”
He said he has initiated a lawsuit with the judiciary to repossess the property that he charges is occupied “illegally” by the British embassy. He also said Britain should pay a fine of 5 billion rials ($460,000) for destroying the trees without first getting permission from the environmental agency.
The local media has been filled for a week with stories and expressions of horror over the destruction of the 310 trees.
The embassy issued a statement saying that 31 trees, not 310, had been lost. It said they had died for lack of water because the Metro authority had cut off the piped water supply to the garden while it was digging a Metro line nearby.
PressTV said the property runs to 200,000 square meters (50 acres).