The Iran hostage crisis
in November 1979,
when Iran student
revolutionaries stormed the US
embassy in Tehran, holding 52
diplomats captive for 444 days.
Fourty years on, and
the former embassy
is now a museum run by the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
A visit here is a
journey back in time.
On display, document disposers
and satellite transmitters,
equipment the hostage
takers believed
the US was using in its attempts
to undermine the revolution.
Earlier that year Iranians
had overthrown the monarch
and the country had voted to
establish an Islamic republic.
Their actions still echo through
these rooms and corridors
and onto the global stage.
Iran and the US
remain arch enemies.
All nations have a duty to act.
No responsible government should
subsidise Iran's bloodlust.
In 2018, US President
Donald Trump
pulled out of the nuclear
accord and imposed the toughest
sanctions ever
against the republic.
Iran has vowed not to retreat
from its ballistic missile
programme.
Ordinary Iranians like
Ali are suffering,
but he defends
the hostage taking
and says Iran is right
not to trust the US.
His wife Simin believes the
country must maintain the power
to defend itself.
For Ramin, however, the hostage
taking was a costly mistake.
Back at the embassy,
the bubble room
was used for secure
top-secret meetings.
Here, the diplomats
allegedly plotted
against Iran and
other regional powers,
free from eavesdroppers.
The embassy equipment
may look outdated now,
but the mistrust between the US
and Iran is current and real.
