The United States’ former embassy in Iran has been turned into an anti-American museum, a new report shows.
The embassy, seized in 1979 by Iranian militant students, is known among hard-liners as “the nest of spies,” CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported. She was recently taken on a tour of the embassy.
{mosads}Outside of its entrance is a newly-installed statue of a U.S. marine with his hands up. During the height of the Iranian revolution, students stormed the embassy, which Marines had been guarding. As a result, 52 Americans were taken hostage for 444 days.
Hard-liners painted a mural on the embassy’s inside staircase depicting their anti-American sentiment. One part of the wall shows the Statue of Liberty holding a tablet displaying a Hebrew inscription.
The second floor has an anti-U.S. exhibit on display, which includes a life-size sculpture of the moment the embassy was under attack. The tour guides also pointed out a door that led to the CIA’s annex.
This inside-look at the former embassy comes as the U.S. continues to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.