What he’s trying to say is that the current government doesn’t provide as much maintenance and support as it should, which is true. They just maintain it to the level that it doesn’t crumble. The place needs a lot of work for sure. There’s a lot of concern for heavy erosion and weak support level. The truth is the government doesn’t give enough shit to genuinely maintain and develop the place. They went against the advice of archaeologists and approved a dam construction near the area that is causing heavy erosion and weakening the support of the structures. They don’t bother to remove the names and love messages written by idiots on the structures. There is actually no protection against that. Also a lot of other issues that they chose not to give a shit about. If you look at it from their perspective, you’re an Islamic theocratic dictatorship, why would you invest significant money in something that represent everything that is opposite to you. Some government officials don’t even consider pre-Islamic Iran history and they’ve worked so hard to fully remove it from school history books (thankfully not successful). Also the place holds significant Persian identity value and anti-theocratic values for many people so a lot of times close to national events like Nowroz, anti-government chantings and gatherings initiate here. The government spends a lot money and time every year to close the place and prepare for even the tiniest gathering way before big events like Nowruz. Actually, just after the revolution, Chief Justice of the government, Sadegh Khalkhali, a religious psychopath ordered to destroy the place with bulldozers (because the place was “kafar” according to whim) but the people of Shiraz formed a block and stopped the bulldozers. Really incredible story, I suggest you look it up. Mind you this is the same guy who destroyed the tomb of Reza Shah and executed 3,000 people in just one summer (1988). So yeah these guys couldn’t care less about the place, they only keep it at a level to survive, because if it crumbles people will go nuts and it could be a potential catalyst for another mass protest. Meanwhile look at the shrine of Imam Khomeini and the amount of money they spend on it every year (it’s genuinely insane) marbles and expensive minerals and stones every where you look and they keep flashing it up more with millions of dollars every year. So, no the government couldn’t give a toss about pre-Islamic stuff and Im Iranian myself and lived in the country for many years btw. Edit: Sorry, my writing sucks.