TEHRAN -- The request of Professor Richard Nelson Frye, American scholar of Iranian and Central Asian Studies, to be buried in Iran was accepted by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on September 12.

Frye wrote directly to Ahmadinejad requesting permission for his own future burial on the bank of the river Zayandehrud in Isfahan saying that he wanted to prove that there is an “unbreakable link between the honorable Iranian and American nations.”
Ahmadinejad instructed Iran’s Interior Minister, Mostafa Purmohammadi to provide the prerequisites for compliance with Frye’s request.
Frye’s affection for Iran and the Iranian people grew during his scholarly interest in the region which has spanned more than sixty years.
The 87-year-old Harvard University professor wants to be buried near Arthur Pope, his mentor, predecessor and former director of the Asia Institute in Shiraz. A magnificent mausoleum was built in memory of Pope on the bank of the Zayandeh-Rud River in Isfahan.