Ministry of Foreign Affairs Protests Name Change of Boustan Street to Ayatollah Nimer

A member of the Tehran City Council announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has protested the renaming of Boustan Street, which leads to the Saudi Arabian embassy, to Ayatollah Nimer and has formally requested the Tehran Municipality to revert the street name to its previous designation. According to Tasnim News Agency, Mojtaba Shakri, on Sunday, January 20, referred to the urgent resolution of the Tehran City Council to rename the street leading to the Saudi embassy to 'Martyr Ayatollah Nimer,' stating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its objection to this name change. Mr. Shakri mentioned that the Ministry has requested in writing that the street name be changed back to its former name. Additionally, according to ISNA, this council member stated that the city council typically consults with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the naming of streets after foreign and international figures. On January 3, the Tehran City Council approved the urgent proposal to rename Boustan Street to 'Martyr Ayatollah Nimer,' and on the same day, some protesters against the execution of this Shia cleric replaced the street sign. Meanwhile, Mr. Shakri indicated that the process of changing a street name after the council's resolution takes 'two weeks to one month,' and the official name change has not yet occurred. The city councils of Mashhad and Shiraz have also approved plans to rename one of their streets after Sheikh Nimer. These resolutions come at a time when reports indicate that the name of Khaled Islambuli, a member of the assassination team of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, has been a major obstacle to normalizing relations between the two countries in recent years. The execution of Sheikh Nimer, following the attack on Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran, led to a severing of relations and verbal conflicts between officials of the two countries. Meanwhile, Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, on Sunday described the severing of relations by Saudi Arabia with Iran and the attack on the Iranian embassy in Yemen as indicative of the 'light and hostile political behavior' of Saudi officials towards 'the Iranian nation.' He also referred to the attack on the Saudi embassy as a 'suspicious incident' and added, 'The Ministry of Interior must deal with those who were negligent or at fault in ensuring security there, and the parliament will also follow up on the issue to eliminate the roots of such behaviors in the country.' The Iranian Ministry of Interior, which has been instructed by the President to investigate this incident, has so far dismissed the security deputy of the Tehran governorate in connection with the attack on the Saudi embassy. In relation to the attack on the Saudi embassy, the Vice Chairman of the National Security Commission of the Parliament had accused 'supporters' of Ayatollah Sadeq Shirazi, a critic of the Islamic Republic, but the Khabar Online website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, dismissed this accusation as 'baseless' and stated that this action was carried out by individuals known as 'Velayatmadar.' Meanwhile, Hossein Naqvi Hosseini, a representative close to the Stability Front in the Parliament, stated on Sunday that 'given the presence of cameras and filming of the incident,' the attackers on the Saudi embassy 'can be identified.' According to Borna News Agency, he emphasized that 'there is a possibility of a security aspect' to this incident and that 'individuals may have infiltrated among the people and taken action.' Previously, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, had also described the attack on Saudi diplomatic missions as 'suspicious,' and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice, had stated that this action 'could have been designed and supported by infiltrators.'