TEHRAN -- Parseh and Pasargadae Research Foundation Director Mohammad-Hassan Talebian denied that there had been any court ruling against the efforts of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) to force the diversion of a railway route that would pass precariously close to the Achaemenid site of Naqsh-e Rustam in Fars Province.

People spread such rumors in order to prevent this court case from following its normal course, Talebian told the Persian service of CHN on Tuesday.

“If such a court ruling had been made, we would have been informed, but we have received no official notice,” he added.

A railway embankment has been constructed at a distance of about 350 meters from Naqsh-e Rustam, spoiling the landscape.

Experts have said that if the railroad were to become operational, train vibrations would eventually damage the Naqsh-e Rustam monument and would cause the destruction of Zoroaster’s Kaba in less than ten years.

The CHTHO and cultural heritage enthusiasts finally convinced the Ministry of Road and Transportation to alter the railway route in December 2006.

The railway route is located exactly on the perimeter demarcated by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, Talebian said, adding, “The railroad will cause serious problems for the site and will also trigger protests from the committee. “The CHTHO will never allow the railway route to pass near Naqsh-e Rustam.”

The railroad project may affect the registration of Naqsh-e Rustam on the auxiliary list of the UNESCO Persepolis dossier, he noted.

A few years ago, the CHTHO asked UNESCO to add Naqsh-e Rustam to the Persepolis dossier, which is on the World Heritage List.

Naqsh-e Rustam is important since the tombs of Achaemenid kings such as Darius I and Xerxes I are carved into the solid rock of Mt. Hossein. The site also contains remnants of the Elamite and Sassanid eras.