Whitney Wright, 32, visited Tehran last week and posted a picture of herself on the grounds of the former US embassy.

Tehran, Iran – An adult artist from the United States has sparked controversy after a visit to Iran and a visit to the former US embassy in Tehran.

Whitney Wright, 32, of Oklahoma arrived in Iran last week and confirmed on her social media on Monday that she had left the country.

She posted several images from her visit, including one that went viral showing her – wearing a headscarf and non-revealing clothing required in Iran – next to a lowered US flag on the grounds of the country’s former embassy.

Iranian authorities said the embassy was a “spy site” before it was taken over after the 1979 Iranian revolution and have since converted it into a museum. Embassy staff were held here for 444 days, further intensifying hostilities have an impact on relations between Iran and the USA even now.

Wright wrote on her Instagram account that she was eager to visit the embassy along with other museums in Tehran, noting that the backlash and negative online attention she received was extreme.

“I’m sharing exhibits from a museum that have never been seen before,” Wright wrote on Instagram. “It’s not an endorsement from the government.”

Some critics claimed that her visit highlighted inconsistencies on the part of Iranian authorities.

Wright’s profession is considered “obscene” by Iranian authorities and could theoretically lead to criminal charges.

Her visit came after Iran experienced some of the largest public protests and unrest since the 1979 revolution in 2022 and early 2023. triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old died in the custody of Iran’s moral police after being detained for allegedly failing to comply with the hijab requirement that has been in place since shortly after the revolution.

At the heart of many protests were the issues of the legal requirement to wear a hijab and women’s freedom. The Iranian authorities have also made various efforts to achieve this Enforcing hijab rules Since then, the protests have subsided.

Actor Setareh Pesiani referenced Wright’s visit to criticize the government’s headscarf requirement.

“You punish the people of this country with various methods for removing the hijab, but you allow a porn actress to come here to tour Iran!?” Pesiani wrote on Instagram.

As a US citizen, Wright would have needed a visa for her visit.

Asked about Wright’s visit during a weekly news conference on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said he had no information about her.

“Of course, there are no barriers for US citizens to enter the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iranian citizens can travel to the US. Whether these opportunities are equal can be assessed separately,” he said.

“Whitney Wright was not invited to Iran by any organization, traveled to Iran personally and after obtaining a visa, and the visa issuance system was unaware of the nature of her immoral and obscene work,” the semi-official news website Tasnim quoted This as saying an unnamed “informed” source on Monday.

Her visit to the embassy and the Golestan Palace in Tehran took place as a regular visitor and without an invitation, it said.

The Associated Press news agency quoted the US State Department as saying it had warned American citizens to avoid travel to Iran and “exercise increased caution due to the risk of unlawful detention.”

In September, Iran and the USA completed a prisoner exchange That took years, swapping five Iranian prisoners held on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran for five U.S. citizens held on espionage charges that Washington said were false.

The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since the United States broke them off in 1980, shortly after taking over the embassy in Tehran.

Wright has continually brought attention to this on her social media Israel’s war against Gazain which more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, most of them women and children.

This is not the first time a visit by a Western adult artist to Iran has sparked controversy.

In 2016, British artist Candy Charms traveled to Iran to undergo plastic nose surgery, sparking outrage and major backlash online.

“I love Tehran, the people are so kind and generous, really overwhelmed by the whole trip, the people are amazing,” she had written on her social media at the time.