With tensions mounting on the diplomatic and PR fronts between Iran and the U.S, the U.S. State Dept. this week unveiled plans for a virtual Tehran embassy intended to “penetrate the electronic curtain of isolation the Iranian leadership has imposed on its people,” according to its public affairs unit.
Footage produced by Iran purporting to show a US surveillance drone downed in Iranian airspace. |
The move came a day before Iranian officials released state-produced video of what they say is a U.S. intelligence drone shot down in Iran. Images of the aircraft were run throughout global media, including newspaper front pages across the world like the New York Times.
The new virtual embassy for Tehran, features a welcome by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraging users to use social media tools to communicate and criticizing the current Iranian regime for stifling communications, especially digitally, among its citizens and violating human rights.
“Departing from the Persian empire’s historical role as a crossroads of civilizations, the Iranian regime has gone to great lengths to restrict what the Iranian people see, hear, and think -- violating widely held standards of human rights,” said a fact sheet distributed by State Dept. public affairs staffers.
The U.S. has not had a physical, standalone embassy in Iran since the hostage crisis of 1979, operating instead from a section of the Swiss embassy in the capital.
Iran's foreign affairs spokesman issued a statement Dec. 8 saying the U.S.'s virtual embassy "highlights the confession to the big mistake they have made in severing ties between two nations and turning their back to Iranian people.."
The State Dept. said the website, which has been blocked in Iran, will provide Iranian audiences with information about U.S. policy towards Iran, the Middle East, and Muslim communities and counter “disinformation and persistent myths” about the U.S. and world reaction to Iran’s policies.
Iran, meanwhile, rolled out the drone with video footage of the aircraft under the country’s flag saying its own electronic attack forced it down. U.S. officials have acknowledged to reporters that a CIA drone went missing, but said the aircraft which flies at 50,000 feet likely crashed, raising questions about the in-tact drone depicted in the Iranian propaganda film.