Direct bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments were severed following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the subsequent seizure of the embassy in November 1979.

It was a long, low two-story brick building, similar in architectural style to many American high schools built in the 1930s and 1940s.

[5][6][7] After the fall and violent occupation of the American Embassy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used it as a training center, and continue to maintain the complex.

[8] The brick walls that form the perimeter (the embassy grounds are the size of a city block) feature a number of anti-American murals commissioned by the government of Iran.

The Iranian Interests Section for any activities in the United States, operates out of the Pakistani Embassy (for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan).