Iranian officials said on Saturday that the massive wildfire burning for a week in the Hyrcanian forest in northern Mazandaran Province was most likely caused by human activity, as authorities investigate suspected attempts to clear forest land for real estate projects.
Reza Aflatouni, head of Iran’s Forests Organization, said initial findings “strongly suggest a human cause.” “Expert teams are in the area, and evidence points to deliberate or negligent action,” he told state media. “We are also examining possible connections between the fire and efforts to rezone forest and farmland for private construction.”
Mazandaran Governor Mehdi Younesi-Rostami also said security assessments confirm that the fire in the Elit area was caused by human activity.
The investigation follows mounting controversy in Mazandaran Province, where environmental experts have accused local officials and developers of converting protected farmland and forest edges into villa plots.
The blaze, centered in the Elit region near the town of Chalous, has spread through steep, densely wooded terrain and is being driven by high winds and dry conditions. Firefighting officials said eight helicopters from the Defense Ministry, police and Red Crescent are operating in the area, along with two Ilyushin aircraft from the Revolutionary Guards, each capable of carrying 40,000 liters of water per flight.
Turkey to send aircraft as Iran weighs Russian help
Two Turkish firefighting planes, a helicopter and eight personnel are expected to arrive on Saturday to support local crews, and officials said Iran may request additional assistance from Russia if needed. “If necessary, we will request cooperation from the Russian government to help contain the Elit forest fires,” Environment chief Shina Ansari said.
Authorities said the difficult terrain has slowed efforts to create firebreaks and reach isolated hot spots. Ansari warned that “the risk of fire spread remains high” and that teams have been working around the clock to prevent the blaze from reaching nearby villages.
The Hyrcanian forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site along Iran’s Caspian coast, is one of the world’s oldest temperate rainforests and home to thousands of plant and animal species, including endangered Persian leopards and brown bears.
Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, called the Elit blaze “heartbreaking,” saying Iranians are “losing a natural heritage older than Persian civilization.”
Officials said the full extent of the damage and the cause of the fire will be announced after investigations conclude.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
