So here we are in front of the US Embassy compound in Tehran. Here we have an apple with the CNN logo. The Twin Towers are interspersed with the dollar sign. The Statue of Liberty. This is one of the most photographed walls, probably in all of Tehran. Americans know this as a former US site. But to Iranians, this is known as the “US Spy Museum.” And of course, what happened here is at the root of the four-decade-long hostility between the United States and Iran that has recently escalated. In June, Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran, leading to a brief but intense war that rocked the capital and left hundreds dead. Foreign journalists have limited access in Iran, but during a recent trip, officials allowed us to visit the former embassy, which is the source of much of the current hostility. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the embassy out of fear that the United States was planning to reinstate the Shah, or king, who had been deposed months earlier. They held 52 hostages for a total of 444 days. (Voice-over) “The students had limited outside contact with the hostages. Previously, they had refused to forward letters to their captors.” “What can you call these hostages? These people are political smugglers.” “I have announced a series of economic and political measures.” “We have no more time for gestures. We want our people to be released.” The US government later said that six CIA officers were among the hostages and accused Iran of violating diplomatic conventions. Decades of tension followed. “So that was during the hostage situation?” “After the hostage crisis.” “After the students came in.” 21-year-old Amir works here as a guide as part of his military service. Like many in Iran, where self-censorship is commonplace, he asked us not to use his last name. “How many people typically visit this museum each year?” “There are around 5,000, most of them from Asia. But we rarely have visitors from the USA and Great Britain.” This is the office of the former US ambassador. It has been carefully preserved and looks largely as it did before the hostage-taking. When it became apparent that the students would be taking over the embassy, the Americans inside desperately tried to destroy as many secret documents as possible. “These are the famous shredding machines that most Americans probably know from the movie Argo, right?” “The students tried to restore some of these documents. It took six years to put the tattered papers back together. And after the restoration, the students classified all of these documents as a book.” A particular focus is on this part of the museum, which is presented as a CIA station. It’s full of spy equipment. There are encryption devices, there is a listening machine. There’s a safe room right behind me. And that is presented here as evidence to the regime that this building was used not just for diplomacy, but also for surveillance of the Iranians and, as they see it, interference in their affairs. “This is all material for intercepting and monitoring communications.” “Yeah, I mean, I have to say, it’s more involved than I imagined, right? It gives you a glimpse of what espionage was like almost five decades ago.” The museum’s message was clear to its visitors, including the few foreign journalists like us who were allowed entry. Americans couldn’t be trusted then, and they shouldn’t be trusted now. Many Iranians told me that they viewed the museum as a relic of a distant past, but they were also on high alert since the war in June, fearing that fighting with the United States could break out at any moment. A reminder that this eventful history still resonates loudly today.
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