Change approach instead of launching virtual embassy, Iran tell US

Dec 8, 2011, 9:54 GMT

Tehran - The United States should change its political approach towards Iran rather than launching a 'virtual embassy,' the Iranian foreign ministry said Thursday.

'US authorities should take lessons from their past mistakes and change their approach towards the Iranian nation,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement carried by official news agency IRNA.

'Such a virtual initiative will not compensate for the big US mistakes such as the constant imposition of sanctions on the Iranian people,' Mehmanparast added.

The spokesman also said that launching the site was a de facto admission by the US that cutting relations with the Iranian nation for more than three decades had been a 'big mistake.'

The United States opened a 'virtual embassy' online on Tuesday but it was blocked by the Iranian government a day later, in the latest spat between Washington and Tehran.

The initiative was launched by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to improve Iranian understanding of the US and to advise Iranians on tourist and student visas.

The US State Department said Wednesday that it was not surprised the site had been blocked, but spokesman Mark Toner said the US hoped many Iranians would still be able to connect to it using virtual private networks (VPN) that obscure the user's physical location.

By using proxy software and VPN, Iranian have managed in the past to access more than five million sites blocked by the government - including the new US embassy site.

Iran and the US have had no diplomatic ties and no embassies in each other's capitals for more than three decades. Switzerland represents the US in Tehran, while Iran is represented in Washington by Pakistan.

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