German cultural officials said Tuesday they had to cancel a planned Berlin exhibition of an Iranian treasure trove of Western modern art after Tehran refused to provide an export permit. The show of paintings collected by the wife of Iran's late shah, featuring masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Andy Warhol, had been billed as a symbol of a diplomatic thaw since Iran's nuclear deal with western powers.

But controversy flared after the Tehran museum chief this year handed out an award for a Holocaust cartoon, and the loan project was reportedly further complicated by fears in the Islamic republic about legal claims if the pictures travel abroad. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), which manages Berlin's main museums, said Iran's refusal to issue the necessary paperwork forced it to cancel the exhibition that had been agreed with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016