The US Library of Congress head has signed an agreement to exchange resources with the National Library of Iran during a rare visit by a US official, the Iranian library's director said Friday. "We signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange resources and experiences in library science, Islam and Iran," Mohammad Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi told AFP.
Librarian of Congress James Billington's visit came as Iranians celebrated the 25th anniversary of the November 1979 seizure by Islamic students of the US embassy in Tehran, after which diplomatic ties were severed.
"Anyone who sees this cultural act as political is making a mistake," Bojnourdi said.
The six-day visit also comes amid increased tensions between Washington and Tehran over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which the White House says is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
But Billington "was not carrying any message and neither were we," Bojnourdi said.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday that Billington's trip had been approved by the White House and that he and his delegation had been briefed by the State Department before they left.
"We regard cultural and scientific issues as different from politics," explained Bojnourdi.
"Neither during (late supreme leader) Imam Khomeini's time nor the Supreme leader's (Ali Khamenei) have we been told to limit ourselves scientifically and culturally," he said.
In May, an American delegation returned 300 ancient Iranian tablets held for more than 70 years to Iran's National Museum.
The repatriation of the antiquities marked the first such handover by the United States since 1979.
The US national Library of Congress is the world's largest and its chief is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Comments
Comments are closed.