TEHRAN, Iran — “This is me, yes this is me,” he laughed as he picked up the 34-year-old picture showing him and another Iranian student dragging an American hostage from the US Embassy in Iran.

“I’m proud of being part of this,” said Abdul Hussein Rohalamini, one of hundreds of Iranians who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. I met him along with others at one of the buildings inside the US Embassy complex, which is controlled today by the pro-government paramilitary Basij. They were celebrating the anniversary with their children, grandchildren and others.

I stood at the gate for a while, staring at the famous fence that the students and other angry protesters jumped across. It was here that US-Iranian relations collapsed, confidence was lost and enmity was given birth to. I gazed at the pictures of the students and their hostages, who today are all fathers and grandfathers, and some of them may be working for better relations with each other. Then, I made my way toward the main building, which the Iranians had transformed into a museum about what the Americans were doing in Iran.

As I made my way inside, I came across two statues. One mocked the Statue of Liberty, placing prison bars at its stomach, and another resembled a detained US Marine with his hands on his head. The staircase to the first floor was full of drawings that criticized US policy around the world, particularly its support for Israel. At the end of the staircase a large bulletproof door marked the entrance to what's said to be the CIA wing at the embassy, and what the Iranians call the "den of espionage."