Harvard professor wants to be buried in Iran

Richard Nelson Frye, 87, a professor emeritus of Iranian and Central Asian studies at Harvard University, made his request in a letter addressed directly to Ahmadinejad, the broadcasting company reported on its website. “I ask the Iranian president to allow my burial in the beautiful city of Isfahan to prove the unbreakable link between the honorable Iranian and American nations,” Frye was quoted as saying in his letter. Frye said he expects to receive formal notification from Iranian authorities when he visits the Iranian mission to the United Nations on Monday. Frye first visited Central Asia during World War II when he worked for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, and his desire to be buried in Iran dates to the time of the shah. “I’ve been connected to this part of the world for 65 years or more, when I was stationed in Afghanistan, Istanbul, and Iran,” he told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Brimfield, Mass.