A collection of rare Persian seals dating back to the eighth century BC have been returned to Tehran after they were smuggled to the US in 2002.
A collection of45 ancient Persian seals will go onshow inthe National Museum ofIran afterthey were recently returned fromthe US.
The seals were produced duringthe Achaemenid Empire (c. 705-330 BC), also known asthe First Persian Empire, and the Sasanian Empire (c. 224-651 AD), the fourth Iranian dynasty and Iran's last pre-Islamic empire.
The priceless seals and some other artefacts were handed overby the US aftera Supreme Court decision toreturn them totheir place oforigin, and they were given toIranian representatives onthe sidelines ofa UN meeting earlier this month.
On May 7 they arrived atthe museum inTehran, and will go ondisplay there onMay 20.
The haul is the second to return to Iran from the US in recent months, after some other artefacts discovered in Iran 40 years ago were returned last winter.
In October 2013 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited the 68th Session ofthe UN General Assembly, where the US authorities gifted him a silver Persian drinking cup inthe shape ofa winged Griffin, dating back tothe 7th century BC, which had been looted froma cave inIran and seized byUS custom officials in2003.
In summer 2015 Italy returned 30 artefacts toIran which had been illegally taken toEurope overthe preceding ten years. They had been discovered byItalian police and delivered tothe Iranian embassy inItaly.
In December 2014 a collection of300 items dating back more than3,000 years, which had spent 50 years inBelgium, also returned toTehran aftera court ruling.