Military Prosecutor's Office Issues 'Stop Order' for Construction by the IRGC Near Ishratabad Mansion

Kianoush Taklou, the head of the legal and property office of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Tehran Province, stated on Friday, June 29, that the Tehran Military Prosecutor's Office has issued a stop order for any construction in the visual buffer zone of the 'Kolah Farangi Mansion' located in the 'Ishratabad' military base. According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), this order pertains to the installation of giant iron skeletons, of which about 14 floors have already been constructed and are approximately 70 meters away from the historical 'Ishratabad' mansion. Taklou emphasized the enforceability of this order issued by the Tehran Military Prosecutor's Office, stating, 'According to the Military Prosecutor's announcement, the delivery of this order to the project officials is a process that may take several days; it must first be delivered to the IRGC's garrison, which will then hand it over to the executive agents, after which the order will be communicated to the relevant officials.' In response to the question of why the legal department of Tehran's cultural heritage submitted its complaint to the Military Prosecutor's Office after about nine months, Taklou explained, 'It was supposed that the issue of 'Ishratabad' would be resolved through technical meetings by the Supreme Council of Architecture and Urbanism with the result of adjusting the unauthorized floors, but so far it has not been successful, and the meetings held have not yielded satisfactory results regarding the visual buffer zone of the Kolah Farangi Mansion. Therefore, cultural heritage pursued its complaint from the Military Prosecutor's Office and succeeded in obtaining a judicial order.' The 'Kolah Farangi Mansion' in Farahabad was built by the order of Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar with an Iranian architectural model in four floors. According to this report, construction in the 70-meter vicinity of the Ishratabad Palace began in September of last year. ISNA reported that the Supreme Council of Urbanism and Architecture of Iran discussed the construction in the lands north of the IRGC Square in Tehran on April 6, 2015, emphasizing that the historical 'Ishratabad Mansion' should be made available for public use, and it was resolved that 'construction operations in the vicinity of the mansion be halted and the plans be revised and corrected according to zoning regulations and cultural heritage regulations.' However, the project officials at the IRGC military base and in the buffer zone of 'Ishratabad' did not heed this order. Nevertheless, Mohammad Mahdi Tondgouyan, vice president of the Architecture and Urbanism Commission, announced the final ruling of the Article 5 Commission on June 24 regarding the violations committed in the Ishratabad structure, stating, 'The height of this structure has been set at 16 meters.' However, the project officials at the IRGC military base have also ignored this ruling. The 'Kolah Farangi Mansion' in Farahabad was built by the order of Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar with an Iranian architectural model in four floors. This building once served as a dormitory for Anis al-Doleh, one of the wives of Naser al-Din Shah, and a large circular pool is located southeast of this mansion, filled with water from a qanat. However, after the fall of the Qajar dynasty and the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty, this garden and palace, along with the houses around the pool, were allocated for military use to the police and were thus named the 'Police Base' or 'Ishratabad.' After the revolution, this base was confiscated by the IRGC and renamed 'Valiasr Base.' An IRGC prison is located in this base, where several national-religious forces detained in 2000 were held. The Kolah Farangi Mansion of Ishratabad was registered as one of Iran's national monuments on April 12, 1967, with registration number 648. According to Mehr News Agency, in December 2013, Ahmad Masjed Jamei, who was then the head of the Tehran City Council, along with journalists and officials from the Cultural Heritage Organization and the Tehran Municipality, visited the IRGC Navy Command Center and the Kolah Farangi Mansion, which had been converted into the IRGC Navy Museum. This was the first time that the museum officials allowed journalists and photographers to enter the area and visit this historical building, which had been hidden from the public eye for years behind walls, to be introduced to the people. After that visit, Ahmad Masjed Jamei stated, 'Problems were observed within the building that stemmed from the changes made to convert this valuable historical building into a museum.'