Obama Presents Iranian President with “A Special Gift”
From American Overlook
October 1, 2013
Iranian Pres. Hassan Rouhani notified the media of a “special gift” given to him by Pres. Barack Obama whenthey spoke in a historic meeting over the weekend.
On Sept. 28, Obama presented Rouhani with a 2,700-year-old Persian artifact worth over $1 million.
The artifact is a 7th century B.C. silver cup in the shape of a winged Griffin, which is a creature with the head of an eagle and body of a lion. The Persian cup was apparently taken from a cave in Iran and seized by U.S. customofficials when a fine-art dealer attempted to smuggle it into the U.S. in 2003.
Rouhani praised Obama for giving “it back as a special gift to the Iranian nation.”
Mohammad Ali Najafi, director of Iran’s heritage organization, said, “We hope this will mark the beginning of the return of other artifacts.”
