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Embassy of the United States, Tehran

Coordinates: 35°42′29″N 51°25′26″E / 35.708°N 51.424°E / 35.708; 51.424
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Embassy of the United States, Tehran
Native name
سفارت ایالات متحده آمریکا، تهران (Persian)

Defaced Great Seal of the United States
LocationTehran, Iran
Coordinates35°42′29″N 51°25′26″E / 35.708°N 51.424°E / 35.708; 51.424
Embassy of the United States, Tehran is located in Iran
Embassy of the United States, Tehran
Location of Embassy of the United States, Tehran in Iran
Anti-American propaganda at the former US embassy, Tehran

The Embassy of the United States of America in Tehran (Persian: سفارت آمریکا در تهران) was the American diplomatic mission in the Imperial State of Iran. Direct bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments were severed following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the subsequent seizure of the embassy in November 1979.[1][2]

History

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Chancery Building of the former Embassy of the United States to the former Empire of Iran (before 1979), seen from Taleghani (Takht-e Jamshid) Avenue, in their capital city of Tehran - (photo taken in 2017)

The embassy was designed in 1948 by the architect Ides van der Gracht, the designer also of the Embassy of the United States in Ankara (Republic of Turkey). It was a long, low two-story brick building, similar in architectural style to many American high schools built in the 1930s and 1940s. For this reason, the building was nicknamed "Henderson High" by the local embassy staff, referring to Loy W. Henderson (1892-1986), who became America's ambassador to the Empire of Iran, to its Imperial government and the Shah of Iran (emperor), just after construction was completed in 1951.[3]

The U.S. diplomatic mission has been defunct and the building has not been used by the Americans and their United States Department of State since the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1980.[1][2] Since then, the United States federal government has been represented in Iran to the successor Islamic Republic of Iran by the Protecting Power agreement with the United States Interests Section of the friendly neutral Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran.[4] The name given to the compound by the embassy's illegal occupiers and still used by many Iranians is variously translated as the "den of spies", "espionage den," "den of espionage", and "nest of spies".[5][6][7]

After the fall and violent occupation of the American Embassy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used it as a training center, and continue to maintain the complex.[8] The brick walls that form the perimeter (the embassy grounds are the size of a city block) feature a number of anti-American murals commissioned by the government of Iran.[8] The site has also housed a bookstore and a museum.[9] Part of the embassy has been turned into an anti-American museum, and several Iranian college / university student organizations maintain offices in the former U.S. embassy complex.[10] As of January 2017, the site is open to the Iranian public and foreigners. The decorative Great Seal of the United States is badly damaged, but still visible overhead at the building's entryway.

The Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line published documents seized in the embassy (including painstakingly reconstructed shredded documents) in a series of books called "Documents from the US Espionage Den" (Persian: اسناد لانه جاسوس امریكا, Asnād-e lāneh-e jasusi Amrikā).[11] These books included telegrams, correspondence, and reports from the United States Department of State and Central Intelligence Agency, some of which remain classified to this day.

U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy

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When diplomatic relations were broken, the United States appointed Switzerland to be its protecting power in Iran. Informal relations are carried out through the United States Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy. Services for American citizens are limited. The section is not authorized to perform any U.S. visa/green card/immigration-related services.[10] As of 2024, U.S. visa/green card services and interviews for Iranian citizens are conducted at U.S. Embassies and Consulates in other locations, namely Ankara, Dubai, and Yerevan whose U.S. Embassies and consulates are staffed with Persian-speaking consular officers.[12]

In February 2009, the Iranian police arrested Marco Kämpf, the Swiss diplomat acting as the First Secretary of the US Interests, after finding him with an Iranian woman facing him in the driver's seat of his official diplomatic car. He was immediately recalled to Switzerland.[13][14]

Former Iranian Embassy
in Washington, D.C. (United States)

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Main article: Embassy of Iran, Washington, D.C.
See also: Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United States

The U.S. State Department seized the former Iranian Embassy at 3003-3005 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. in retaliation for the invasion, seizure and occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran since 1979-1980. The Iranian Interests Section for any activities in the United States, operates out of the Pakistani Embassy (for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan).[15][16]

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Embassy of the United States in Tehran.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ a b "Former American Embassy in Iran Attracts Pride and Dust". The New York Times. 2013-10-31. Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  2. ^ a b "Former U.S. Embassy in Iran: mistrust endures where hostages held". CNN. 2014-01-30. Archived from the original on 2021-11-07. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  3. ^ The architecture of diplomacy: building America's embassies ADST-DACOR diplomats and diplomacy series. Jane C. Loeffler. Publisher Princeton Architectural Press, 1998. ISBN 1-56898-138-4 p. 56
  4. ^ Embassy of Switzerland in Iran – Foreign Interests Section Archived 2018-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (page visited on 4 April 2015).
  5. ^ Henry, Terrence (2004-11-09). "Into the Den of Spies". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  6. ^ Taubman, Philip (November 11, 2007). "In Death of Spy Satellite Program, Lofty Plans and Unrealistic Bids". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  7. ^ "Federation of American Scientists on the Espionage Den". Archived from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  8. ^ a b "The Great Satan's Old Den: Visiting Tehran's U.S. Embassy". Time. 2009-07-14. Archived from the original on 2021-11-07. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  9. ^ "Inside The Former US Embassy In Tehran, Iran". Archived from the original on 2021-11-07. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
  10. ^ a b Pleitgen, Fred (July 1, 2015). "Inside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran". CNN. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  11. ^ Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den
  12. ^ NONIMMIGRANT VISAS Archived 2024-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, U.S. Virtual Embassy, Tehran.
  13. ^ "Swiss call diplomat home--but is there a scandal?". Iran Times International. Washington, DC. February 20, 2009.
  14. ^ "Schweizer Diplomat nicht mehr im Iran tätig". 20 Minuten. 2009-02-09. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  15. ^ Luxner, Larry (November 2001). "Despite Lack of Diplomatic Ties, Door to Iran is Slowly Opening". The Washington Diplomat. Archived from the original on 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2017-12-04. The only difference is that the Cubans have their own office, which used to be the Cuban Embassy before their 1959 communist revolution, led by Fidel Castro. We don't have our own office, because the State Department has kept our embassy, and likewise, the Iranian government has the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
  16. ^ "Congressmen Pay A Visit to the Iranian Interest Section". The Weekly Standard. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Unlike the grand embassies of Washington, Pakistan's embassy is a nondescript brick building downtown that looks like it could house any number of commercial enterprises. Inside, the Iranian Interest Section has a cramped lobby underneath a staircase that keeps the rest of the Interest Section out of sight.
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