Gulf Tensions: Iran Unveils New Anti-US Murals At Former Embassy

Amid high tensions between Washington and Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran on Saturday unveiled new anti-American murals on the walls of the former US embassy as Tehran prepares to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the storming of what it labels the “den of spies”. 290 people were killed in the tragedy which Washington has called a “mistake” and for which Iran has for years demanded an apology.

Iran has been locked in a standoff with the United States and its Gulf Arab allies since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal that gave it relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

The new murals—mainly painted in white, red and blue, the colours of the US flag—were unveiled by Major General Hossein Salami, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, at the former mission turned museum.

One of them showed a crumbling Statue of Liberty, its right torch-bearing arm having broken off.

Another depicted the triangle of the Eye of Providence, the symbol used on the back of the US dollar bill, in a sea of blood in which skulls are floating.

A third showed the American Global Hawk drone that was shot down by Iran in June over the Strait of Hormuz, with bats flying out of it.

Next to it another work showed an Iran Air plane that was shot down by an American warship over the Gulf on July 3, 1988, with white doves flying out of it.

Meanwhile, United States has imposed sanctions on Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, whose board of trustees includes President Hassan Rouhani, as well as Etemad Tejarate Pars, a company that the Treasury Department said had sent money internationally on behalf of Iran’s defence ministry.

Earlier, Trump while addressing the UNGA had already ruled out any possibility of easing economic pressure on Iran. Tensions between Iran and US ratcheted up after the Trump administration announced that it would unilaterally force all countries to stop buying Iran’s oil, which is its major export.

In New York, Rouhani urged the United States to cease its “policy of maximum pressure” on his nation, saying it was driving the possibility of negotiations even further away.