The US embassy in Tehran is the embodiment of decades of hostility
According to Agence France-Presse, the former American embassy in central Tehran is easily recognizable by the anti-American graffiti that covers its walls.
The building, which has become known as the “Den of Spies” museum, embodies the enmity rooted in Iranian-American relations, which have been marred by crises of mistrust for decades, and the current war between Israel and Hamas is a of its manifestations. .
Visitors to the site are greeted by a tattered American flag and a mural of the Statue of Liberty, with her holding a tattered torch of liberty, while another drawing depicts her face in the shape of a skull.
Inside the visitor travels back in time to the moment Iranian students took control of it, on November 4, 1979. The objects are still almost intact, including furniture and office equipment, including paper shredders, computers and documents. replenish them after embassy employees attempted to… He quickly got rid of them in the hours before the compound was stormed.
A photo of former US President Jimmy Carter still hangs on the wall of what was once the ambassador’s office.
The students held 52 embassy employees hostage over a period of 444 days, demanding that Washington hand over the Shah, who was being treated for cancer in the United States, to Iran.
The crisis came less than 9 months after the US-backed overthrow of the Shah, and was “a founding event of the Islamic Republic,” master’s student Hussein told Agence France-Presse outside the museum.
Washington officially severed relations with Tehran in 1980, and they have remained frozen ever since.
The complex’s director, Majid Alizadeh, said the museum now receives “100 to 200 visitors a day, 70 percent of whom are tourists.”
He added: “Foreigners, especially Russians and Chinese, show greater interest than Iranians.” He reported that some tourists “come to see the place where the Americans were insulted.”
Relations between Washington and Tehran never recovered following this crisis.
Hussein said: “The price was very high,” given that “the Americans never forgave what happened, and we have been living in a climate of tension and sanctions ever since.”
Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has always adopted strong anti-American rhetoric, which forms the core of its foreign policy.
Iranian-American hostility
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised the embassy assault on Wednesday ahead of the 44th anniversary of the operation.
Khamenei described the slogan “Death to America” as an “approach” and said regarding Iranian-American hostility: “America attributes its hostility to the embassy issue, and they (the Americans) say that the reason to impose sanctions on Iran and treat it badly, fuel unrest and create problems is due to the fact that its embassy was stormed by students, this is what the Americans and their followers inside say.
But he said documents obtained by Iran after the storming of the US embassy show that American “hostility” dates back to the 1953 coup, which overthrew left-wing Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
He added: “The documents show that the American embassy, during the 10 months of the 1979 revolution, up until the storming of the embassy, was a center of conspiracy, espionage, coup planning, internal warfare and management hostile media.”
He said: “(Death to America) is not a slogan, but rather an approach that has emerged from the endless American conspiracies and hostilities with the Iranian nation over the past seven decades.”
Every year on November 4, Iranians gather in front of the building to denounce the “arrogance” of the United States, which the Islamic Republic calls the “Great Satan”, according to Agence France-Presse.
The embassy building has for years been under the control of the propaganda department of the Basij Forces, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard.
The Swiss mission represents U.S. interests in Iran and recently facilitated a prisoner exchange that occurred after grueling negotiations between Tehran and Washington. In Washington, the Pakistani embassy represents Iranian interests.
The Islamic Republic has been under tough U.S. sanctions since Washington withdrew in 2018 from a landmark deal that eased sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have increased following the October 7 attacks launched by Hamas against Israel.
Iran has praised Hamas attacks and described Israel’s intensified bombing of Gaza as “genocide”.
Tehran has denounced Washington for its support for Israel, while on October 25 Khamenei accused the United States of colluding with “criminals.”
In turn, Washington accused Tehran of “facilitating” attacks against American forces in the Middle East.
Despite ongoing hostility for nearly 50 years, museum director Alizadeh believed reopening the embassy was possible “if the United States accepts and respects Iran’s position in the region.” He added that in general “Iranians have never had personal problems with the Americans.”