What Iran looks like 35 years after the U.S. Embassy takeover
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Version 0 of 1. There are tentative signs that things could be changing between Washington and Tehran: The word on everyone's lips seems to be "detente." The hope among advocates of rapprochement is that shared concern over the extreme Sunni Islamism of the Islamic State, not to mention America's fraying ties with Israel, could actually lead to a degree of cooperation between the United States and Iran. It's possible, but a glimpse of the scene in Tehran on Tuesday shows why detente may not be so simple. That's because today is the 35th anniversary of the start of the Iran hostage crisis, during which 52 Americans were held for 444 days in the turbulent aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. And like previous years, the date has become a time to celebrate anti-American sentiment in Tehran. Since 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran has largely been empty, and diplomatic relations between the two -- formally broken in 1980 -- remain severed. (The United States instead relies on an interests section in the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.) In 2011, Time reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps was thought to have been using the building, which was once likened to a high school by former U.S. diplomats. The building's outside wall is now better known for a number of anti-U.S. murals that have been painted on the side. The Associated Press reported that this year's protests appeared to have brought around 10,000 people into the streets, though the Los Angeles Times gave a smaller estimate, suggesting just 3,000. A report from Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency suggested that "tens of thousands" of people had protested around the country. There were other remarkable scenes. Arthur MacMillan, an Agence France-Presse correspondent in Tehran, pointed to one particularly striking piece of protest art: Poster of Obama in Tehran today, 35 years on from storming of US embassy. Imam Khomeini looks on #Iran pic.twitter.com/VtEidjfN7g— Arthur MacMillan (@arthurmacmillan) November 4, 2014 Poster of Obama in Tehran today, 35 years on from storming of US embassy. Imam Khomeini looks on #Iran pic.twitter.com/VtEidjfN7g Other images were more standard: Flags from the United States and Israel were burned, and banners mocking President Obama were raised. It may seem a disheartening scene for detente, but some journalists noted that the crowds seemed to be thinner than before. This may well be a sign of a weakening anger against Washington, but it may also be driven by domestic factors -- last year's large hard-liner turnout was at least partly a response to the election of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, for example. And this year, the anniversary also fell on Ashura, an important holiday on the Shiite Muslim calender that commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad, in the 7th century, which may also have kept some would-be protesters away. There's also an unusual element to the protests: Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) is reporting that at least some of the protesters were vocally calling for an end to sanctions and voicing their support for Iranian nuclear negotiators. Given that, in theory, the deadline for a nuclear deal is Nov. 24, and that Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iran's foreign minister are due to meet in just days, that's a timely message. |