The Embassy of the United States of America in Tehran (Persian: سفارت آمریکا در تهران) was the American

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

in the

Imperial State of Iran Imperial is that which relates to an empire, Emperor, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania ...

. Direct bilateral

diplomatic relations Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of state, intergovernmental, or non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern Diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

between the two governments were severed following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

in 1979, and the subsequent seizure of the embassy in November 1979.

History

The

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

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 Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

). It was a long, low two-story brick building, similar in architectural style to many American

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s built in the

1930s File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Owens Thompson, Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central Uni ...

and

1940s File:1940s decade montage.png, Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on Normandy landings, D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of ...

. 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 The monarchs of Iran ruled for over two and a half millennia, beginning as early as the 7th century BC and enduring until the 20th century AD. The earliest Iranian king is generally considered to have been either Deioces of the Median dynasty () ...

(

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

), just after construction was completed in 1951. 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 The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

since the

Iran hostage crisis The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...

of 1979-1980. Since then, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

federal government has been represented in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

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.Embassy of Switzerland in Iran – Foreign Interests Section
,

Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA, , , , ), so named since 1979, is one of the seven Departments of the Swiss government federal administration of Switzerland, and corresponds in its range of tasks to the ministry of foreign affa ...

(page visited on 4 April 2015). 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". After the fall and violent occupation of the American Embassy, the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

used it as a training center, and continue to maintain the complex. The brick walls that form the perimeter (the embassy grounds are the size of a city block) feature a number of

anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

murals commissioned by the

government of Iran The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (), known simply as ''Nezam'' (), is the ruling State (polity), state and current political system in Iran, in power since the Iranian Revolution and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Its Const ...

. The site has also housed a bookstore and a museum. 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. As of January 2017, the site is open to the Iranian public and foreigners. The decorative

Great Seal of the United States The Great Seal is the seal of the United States. The phrase is used both for the Seal (emblem), impression device itself, which is kept by the United States secretary of state, and more generally for the impression it produces. The Obverse and r ...

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" (, ). These books included telegrams, correspondence, and reports from the

and

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, some of which remain

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

to this day.

U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy

When diplomatic relations were broken, the United States appointed Switzerland to be its

protecting power A protecting power is a country that represents another sovereign state—the protected power—in a third country where the protected power lacks its own formal diplomatic representation (e.g., lacks an embassy or consulate). It is common fo ...

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. 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 Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

whose U.S. Embassies and consulates are staffed with Persian-speaking consular officers. In February 2009, the Iranian police arrested Marco Kämpf, the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

diplomat acting as the First Secretary of the US Interests, after finding him in a compromising position in his car with an Iranian woman he had promised to marry. He was immediately recalled to Switzerland.

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

The U.S. State Department seized the former Iranian Embassy at 3003-3005 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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 Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

References

External links

* hosts a gallery of photographs taken from inside the US Embassy during the crisis. * 400 Pages of Still-Classified CIA and State Dept Documents Seized From the US Embassy in Tehran.
متن کامل و تحلیل اسناد لانه جاسوسی آمریکا (The Full Text and Analysis of the Documents from the US Espionage Den)

Inside The Former US Embassy In Tehran, IranDocuments from the U.S. Espionage DenPhotograph of the embassy gates, 2008
(on flickr)
Virtual Embassy of the United States, Tehran
(not a physical presence in Iran) {{DEFAULTSORT:Embassy of the United States, Tehran Iran–United States relations Buildings and structures in Tehran

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Iran hostage crisis

History

U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy

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

See also

References

External links