So we’re right here outdoors the U.S. embassy compound in Tehran. Right here we have now an apple with the CNN emblem. The Twin Towers interspersed with the greenback signal. The Statue of Liberty. This is likely one of the most photographed partitions, in all probability in all of Tehran. People know this as the previous U.S. compound. However to Iranians, this is named the “U.S. Den of Espionage Museum.” And naturally, what occurred right here is on the root of the hostility between the U.S. and Iran for over 4 a long time, a hostility that escalated lately. In June, Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, leading to a brief however intense battle that rattled the capital, killing lots of. Overseas journalists face restricted entry in Iran, however throughout a current journey, officers allowed us to go to the previous embassy, the place a lot of the present animosity traces again to. On November 4, 1979, Iranian college students stormed the embassy, fearing the U.S. deliberate to revive the Shah, or king, who had been deposed months earlier. They held 52 hostages for a complete of 444 days. [Voiceover] “The scholars had restricted outdoors contacts with the hostages. To this point they’d refused to ahead letters to their captors.” “How will you name these hostages? These individuals are political smugglers.” “I introduced a collection of financial and political actions.” “We’re past the time for gestures. We would like our individuals to be let out.” Six C.I.A. officers had been among the many hostages, the U.S. authorities later mentioned, accusing Iran of violating diplomatic conventions. A long time of tensions would observe. “So this was through the hostage disaster?” “After the hostage disaster.” “After the scholars got here in.” Twenty-one-year-old Amir is working right here as a information as a part of his obligatory navy service. Like many in Iran, the place self-censorship is widespread, he requested us to not use his final title. “Sometimes, how many individuals go to this museum yearly?” “It’s about 5,000, most of them from Asia. However hardly ever we have now guests from U.S. and U.Ok. too.” That is the previous U.S. ambassador’s workplace. It’s been rigorously preserved to look largely prefer it did earlier than the hostage disaster. When it grew to become sure that the scholars had been taking up the embassy, the People inside desperately tried to shred as many categorised paperwork as they might. “These are the well-known shredding machines in all probability identified to most People from the film Argo, proper?” “The scholars tried to get better a few of these paperwork. It took six years to reassemble the shred papers collectively. And, after restoration, college students categorised all these paperwork as a e book.” There’s a selected concentrate on this a part of the museum, which is offered because the C.I.A. station. It’s filled with spy gear. There’s encryption gadgets, there’s an eavesdropping machine. There’s a safe room simply behind me. And for the regime right here that’s offered as proof that this constructing wasn’t simply used for diplomacy, however was additionally used to surveil Iranians and, as they see it, to meddle of their affairs. “That is all the fabric for tapping communications, monitoring communications.” “Yeah, I imply, I obtained to say, it’s extra elaborate than I’d have imagined, proper? It offers you an perception into what espionage seemed virtually 5 a long time in the past.” The message on the museum was clear for its guests, together with the handful of overseas journalists, like us, who had been allowed in. The People had been untrustworthy then and shouldn’t be trusted now. Many Iranians instructed me they seen the museum as a relic of the distant previous, however they had been additionally on excessive alert for the reason that battle in June, and fears that preventing with america may begin at any second. A reminder that this troubled historical past nonetheless rings loud at this time.
