Tehran has opened the old US Embassy as a museum to mock POTUS Donnie and correct any fabrication from the movie Argo – PB/TK
Inside Tehran’s monument to US ‘arrogance’ – By Megan O’Toole April 26 2017
Tehran – For close to four decades, the US embassy in downtown Tehran has been preserved in situ, although its diplomatic functions have long since ceased.
The 1979 hostage crisis, during which a group of Iranian students stormed the embassy and held dozens of Americans captive for 444 days, marked its final operational chapter. Although the hostages were released in early 1981 after the two countries struck a deal, the embassy did not reopen; instead, over the years, it gradually evolved as a monument to the bitter relations between Iran and the United States.
The embassy building – which still contains much of the old equipment used by US embassy staff to send coded messages – became a collection point for anti-American posters, sculptures and paintings. In years past, officials have opened its doors to mark special occasions, such as the anniversary of the hostage crisis. But a few months ago, it was formally established as a museum accessible to the public year-round – and the timing, coming on the heels of the election of US President Donald Trump, is no coincidence.
“One of the reasons [the museum was opened] was the release of the US movie Argo. Most parts of that film were fabricated,” Pouyan, a 24-year-old museum volunteer who declined to give his last name, told Al Jazeera in between explaining the various exhibits.
“A second reason was the election of the new US firebrand, President Trump,” Pouyan added. “As he takes over, we want people to see the reality of what happened … [Here], they see the real face of American democracy.”
Continue to Aljazeera.com article: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/tehran-monument-arrogance-170424122742752.html
