U.S. Launches ‘Virtual’ Embassy For Iran
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — The United States has opened an online embassy for Iran to encourage dialogue with the Iranian people, more than three decades after the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was closed and diplomatic relations with Iran were severed.
The web-based “embassy” went online on December 6 with versions in English and Farsi.
In a video message, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the websites were an attempt to make up for the loss of dialogue between Americans and Iranians since the closure of the physical embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Some 52 Americans were held hostage by Islamist militants and students for 444 days from November 1979 to January 1981 at the embassy, prompting the closure of the U.S. mission and the breaking of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
