Tehran, Iran– On Tuesday, Iranians celebrated the anniversary of 1979 takeover US Embassy in Tehran – the first ceremony of its kind since the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during the war 12 day war With Israel in June.
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the guards to seize the embassy, taking dozens of hostages in a crisis that lasted for more than a year.
In an annual celebration, thousands of people returned to the scene of the incident in downtown Tehran on Tuesday, chanting “Death to the United States” and “Death to Israel.” Some hung effigies of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and set fire to the American and Israeli flags.
Official media said that similar gatherings took place in other Iranian cities and towns.
Models of Iranian missiles were displayed on the sidelines of the marches, and some of them had the phrase “Death to America” written on them. Replicas of centrifuges used in uranium enrichment were also on display.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledged Monday during a meeting with students that there would be no move toward normalizing relations with Washington soon — a message echoed on banners at Tuesday’s rallies.
Israeli air strikes during the war in June killed nearly 1,100 Iranians, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. The United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during the conflict. The retaliatory Iranian missile bombing killed 28 people in Israel.
The strikes came after five rounds of talks between Iran and the United States regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf was the main speaker at the rally in Tehran. He accused the United States and Israel of killing Iranian scientists because the West “opposes the existence of an independent, integrated and powerful Iran.”
He also criticized the former American embassy, describing it as a “den of spies.”
Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been cut off since extremist students seized the embassy in 1979 and detained 52 Americans for 444 days.
Iran withdrew from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring after its conflict with Israel. The country still has a stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. It is largely enough to make several atomic bombs if Tehran chooses to continue arming.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful. But the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized weapons program until 2003.
In September to the United Nations Re-imposing sanctions on Iran regarding its nuclear program, which increases pressure on the Islamic Republic. The sanctions will again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran, and punish any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures.