TEHRAN (AP).- Religious motives appear to be behind the recent theft of 11 bronze statues of Iranian national heroes that have been stolen from the capital’s public parks, a local official said Wednesday. In a string of thefts that started in late March, unknown culprits have used heavy equipment to rip the statues from their pedestals and then carted them off. The thievery has prompted city officials to postpone erecting new statues in the capital. Tehran city council official Morteza Talaei said the thieves appear to be from a “specific group” and are acting out of religious convictions. “It appears that currents and groups that see these statues as contrary to their religious and cultural beliefs are involved,” Talaei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. The statues all depict prominent Iranians, which could contradict a strict interpretation of Islam that bans the depiction of human form in art. Among the 11 statues that have disappeared, two of them were o