Iranian-made tiles spark dispute between Manassas mosque and Treasury DHS

A Muslim group and a Northern Virginia mosque are asking Customs and Border Protection to release 750 pounds of donated Iranian-made ceramic tiles the agency seized in its enforcement of sanctions on imports from the Islamic republic.

The tiles bear inscriptions of verses from the Koran, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the mosque in Manassas say a similar shipment sailed through customs eight months ago.

CAIR officials, the head of the Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations, and the spiritual leader of the Manassas Mosque made their request at a news conference Tuesday.

Imam Abolfazl Nahidian, who is a native of Qom, Iran, told The Washington Times the tiles are intended for use in a “mihrab,” a semicircular niche indicating the direction of prayer, at the mosque’s new facility about six miles from its current location. 

The mihrab is oriented towards the Kaaba in Mecca, Mr. Nahidian said, and its design is arched to reflect the universality of God’s law.

The imam said he was never advised to seek an import license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), which is required under current sanctions on Iranian imports. 

He said a CBP officer told him he could use a customs broker if he wanted to; a broker told Mr. Nahidian that their services were not required on imports valued below $2,500.

The cleric said the tiles were a gift to the Manassas congregation from a sister mosque in Qom. Such donations are customary among mosques all over the world as a symbol of Islamic unity, he said, adding that he’d made his needs known during an earlier visit to Qom.

One U.S. expert on Iranian sanctions disagreed.

“Even though no money changed hands, it is an export from Iran,” Kenneth Katzman, a specialist in Middle East affairs at the Congressional Research Service, said in an interview.

“It doesn’t strike me as goods that could come in under a general license. If it did not have a specific license, it’s under that restriction. That’s just the way the sanctions work,” said Mr. Katzman, a scholar who has no involvement in approving such imports. 

Informational products from Iran such as books, magazines, and films are allowed as imports without a license, but the inscription of Koranic verses would not appear to qualify the tiles under that exemption, he noted.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement that the agency was enforcing a determination that the tiles were prohibited items.

“On June 21, CBP officers placed a hold on the import shipment of tiles from Iran and sought a determination from OFAC. On June 30, OFAC determined that the shipment of tiles was prohibited from importation pursuant to the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. CBP has detained the shipment under this OFAC determination. As is often the case with trade enforcement detentions, a final disposition has not yet been determined.”

Rafi Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations said the tiles should be exempted from sanctions because of their spiritual value.

“If this was a statue of the Virgin Mary, would we be here discussing this or not?” he asked.

Mr. Ahmed said the tiles have “a religious value that we all take very dearly. I encourage the Biden administration, and I encourage all of our agencies to come up with a common sense resolution.”

According to Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, the shipment is “the victim of the crowded complications and lack of leadership to make a decision. So we’re not saying don’t apply the law. We say, apply common sense when you apply the law or the policy. And also, it’s a good time to examine and revise these policies.”

Public affairs officers at the Treasury Department did not respond to questions from The Washington Times.

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