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US State Department maintaining Iran property valued at US$50m

The arrangement is one of the stranger consequences of the diplomatic freeze between the two former allies

Washington

THE US$12 million compound, once a playground for the Iranian ambassador and guests such as Elizabeth Taylor, Andy Warhol and Richard Nixon, now sits empty on Washington's Embassy Row.

The five-storey Upper East Side town house that served as a consulate was long ago repurposed as the headquarters of a dealer of old master paintings.

And the seven-bedroom Bethesda, Maryland, ranch house for Iranian diplomats is now the home of a family of five.

The properties, and seven others across the United States assessed altogether at more than US$50 million, still belong to the Islamic Republic of Iran. But for nearly 40 years, the task of maintaining and putting the properties out for rent has...

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