In July 2013, six old sycamore trees around Vanak Square were cut down by the municipality , causing a backlash in Reformist media and among environmental activists. Sycamores along both sides of Valiasr Street belong to the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization, since the avenue has been registered as a national heritage site. Thus, the municipality should not have cut the trees without first obtaining permission to do so.

Valiasr Street is the longest in Tehran — and Iran — with a length of 18 kilometers (11 miles). Connecting the south of the capital to its north, it was constructed in 1939 by the orders of Reza Shah, the father of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . Although the original order was for about 60,000 sycamore trees to be planted alongside Valiasr Street, this number has dropped dramatically over the past two decades. The government-owned newspaper Iran said in its Aug. 7, 2002, issue that only 11,500 trees are left. Nine years later, the number was recorded in the Valiasr Street registry as just above 8,000.

Storeowners in the area disagree. Yaghoub, who has run a business on the famed section of Valiasr Street for the past 20 years, told Al-Monitor, “They always try to justify what they do in the name of the people. … How can a tree create problems? The problem lies somewhere else. The 6th District is the most commercial area of Tehran and the mayor wants to sell construction permits so that he can earn more money … and these sycamore trees are blocking the way.”

On June 12, the website Nazar News published pictures of 15 more sycamore trees being cut down. However, the mayor of Tehran’s 6th District, Azim Babaei, told Azad News Agency, “Aside from the trees that were destroyed by the [recent] storm, no other tree has been cut down deliberately . Only a few trees have been cut down due to the problems they created for residents.”

TEHRAN, Iran — The long, cool shadows of the old sycamore trees on the stretch between Tehran’s downtown Valiasr Intersection and Valiasr Square are disappearing fast. There are very few sycamores left at irregular intervals on each side of the street. The ones that are still there have few leaves and an ugly appearance.

According to a report by Ghanoon newspaper, 90 sycamore trees have been cut down in the past three months alone. If this trend continues, the number of trees cut down in 2015 will surpass the previous year’s 150.

An expert with the Cultural Heritage Organization told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The trees on Valiasr Street are an important part of the collective memory of the people of Tehran. One of the beauties of this city was this row of trees that had given this historic street a dignified and strong character. When these trees are destroyed, the identity of Tehran is destroyed. This is similar to what happened in Esfahan when Zayanderood dried up. That river had existed for decades and centuries in that city, and then suddenly it was no longer there. These sycamore trees have been here for 80 years, and now they are gone.”

These days, sycamores standing continuously next to each other can only be seen in a small, northern stretch of Valiasr Street, between Parkway Bridge and Tajrish Square.

In February, the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, denied that the municipality had cut down the sycamore trees of Valiasr Street, saying, “The municipality has not cut down these trees; rather, the trespassers are the ones at fault. The judiciary officials and general public should prevent them from repeating these offenses.” Ghalibaf made this statement after a group of student environmental activists gathered together in protest at the trees of the Pessian Estate being cut down. Official sources had reported that the municipality had sold this estate to the private sector so that a 17-story hotel can be built.

The municipality’s desire to increase its revenues by selling construction permits is one of the reasons why it is acting carelessly in regard to the trees on Valiasr Street. Some experts believe that 80% of the municipality’s revenue comes from construction permits.

According to a law passed in 2009, it is a crime to cut down trees in cities. Critics believe that the municipality wants to cut the sycamore trees in the commercial areas of Valiasr Street, but since these legal barriers exist, it is trying to first desiccate them. Hossein Aghakhani, a faculty member at Tehran University and a botany expert, told Ghanoon, “All the water channels have been covered with concrete and all the sycamores stand in asphalt and concrete. It is thus to be expected that they are rotting and are becoming sick; the roots of the trees need to breathe.” He added, “This was partly done deliberately. These trees are creating problems for development activities, so it is easier to just destroy them.”

There have been attempts by the public to raise awareness about this issue. A Facebook page has been created (“Campaign Against Cutting the Trees in Valiasr Street”), which has gotten thousands of “likes.” Moreover, from June 6 to 16, Jinous Art Gallery showed photos in an exhibition titled "Mourning the Valiasr Trees." The photographer, Hassan Ghadiani, raises awareness about the sycamore trees and how their absence will affect the city by presenting sad images of the trees that have been cut down.

Despite all these efforts, very few believe enough is being done to save the sycamore trees of Tehran. A member of the editorial board of the Shahrvand daily, who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, believes that social activists who are concerned about the environment should be more active in trying to save the remaining trees and forcing the municipality to plant more trees. “I think the Tehran City Council and Ms. [Masoumeh] Ebtekar from the Iranian Department of Environment do not have the necessary motivation to prevent the municipality from destroying the sycamore trees of Valiasr Street. People should work together and resist these policies.”

This article is part of our August 2015 series on Middle East cultural heritage. To read more articles in the series, click here.