Political differences between the two countries should not hinder the development of tourism between Iran and the United States, the Iranian website asriran.com quotes the country's Vice
President, Chairman of the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization Hamid Bagai.
Bagai said any country wishing to develop the tourism sphere should turn a blind-eye to political differences with other countries.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed in 1979, when a group of students - active supporters of the Islamic Revolution in Iran - seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The diplomats, their families and embassy personnel, were taken hostage. Some 53 Americans were kept for 444 days.