State Launches Virtual Embassy Tehran

The State Department launched Virtual Embassy Tehran, on Tuesday, a website officials hope will "work as a bridge between the American and Iranian people."

The site can't perform most functions of a bricks and mortar embassy, such as issuing visas, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a video message. Instead, she said, the site is meant to be "a platform for us to communicate with each other openly and without fear."

Clinton's speech and most information posted to the Virtual Embassy's homepage are in English. The site links to the State Department's Persian-language Twitter, YouTube and Facebook feeds.

The site also contains videos from public officials addressing the Iranian people, Voice of America news articles about Iran and information sheets about U.S. study abroad programs and travel visas.

The Iranian regime had already blocked the virtual embassy site a few hours after it went online, according to wire reports.

The regime blocks most U.S. government sites, but tech-savvy Iranians are still able to view the sites using circumvention technology.

"Because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, we have missed some important opportunities for dialogue with you, the citizens of Iran," Clinton said. "But today, we can use new technologies to bridge that gap and promote greater understanding between our two countries and the people of each country."

The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew the U.S.-backed leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The U.S. does not appear to have launched anything resembling a virtual embassy in North Korea, another state the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with, but where Internet penetration is much lower than in Iran.

The U.S. does not have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba, but maintains an interest section on the nearby communist island nation.