Iranian authorities are investigating fresh details in two of 173 cases of disputed land allocations in Damavand and Shemiranat, Tehran province, judicial and semi-official news agencies reported on Sunday.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said it had reopened inquiries into decades-old land transfers involving national property. Tasnim, a news outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said the cases concern valuable land originally allocated under “olive cultivation” and “orchard development” schemes.
In one case, Tasnim reported, 15 hectares of land in the Lalan area of Shemiranat were sold at a discounted price of 150 million rials (about $150 in today’s rate) on instalments to a company described as belonging to a “well-known figure.”
The outlet said no payments were made, and the property lies within an environmentally protected zone where sales were prohibited.
In another case, ILNA news agency said 80 hectares in the Cheshmeh Magasi area of Damavand were transferred at half price to a buyer under a “fodder cultivation” project allegedly backed by a state official.
No crops were planted, the report said, and after legal challenges the contract was annulled and converted into a lease. Subsequent rulings ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to reimburse the buyer at market value plus expenses.
The Cheshmeh Magasi region has also been the focus of a long-running land dispute involving the Kayhan newspaper, which operates under the supervision of Iran’s Supreme Leader.
In early 2024, local media reported the newspaper had not returned 200 hectares of land allocated in the 1990s for “tree planting and livestock farming” despite a court ruling. Kayhan rejected the allegations at the time, calling them politically motivated.
