Treasury Department to release impounded religious tiles

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department is releasing a shipment of tiles that were intended for a northern Virginia mosque but were confiscated at Dulles International Airport after they were determined to have violated sanctions on Iran. Word of the release came through the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which released a letter from the Treasury Department to attorneys representing the Manassas Mosque. The tiles were a gift from a mosque in the Iranian city of Qom to the Virginia mosque and include verses from the Quran. Imam Abolfazl Nahidian said the custom-made tiles were to be used in construction of a new mosque.