Mass Rallies in Tehran End with Anti-US Statement

Huge crowds of Iranian people, mostly school and university students, staged nationwide demonstrations this morning in more than 770 cities around the country to express their opposition to the arrogant attitudes of the enemies, particularly the US.

Demonstrators in Tehran, who were gathering in front of the former US embassy premises, said in their statement that they view the US as the “Great Satan and the nation’s number one enemy”.

The Iranian nation “regards the ‘Death to US’ slogan as the reflection of the Islamic Republic’s anti-arrogance doctrine,” the statement said.

The statement also described that slogan as the main factor of national unity in Iran and the token of aversion to US policies.

The “National Day against Global Arrogance” has its roots in a movement by a group of Iranian students more than 30 years ago.

On November 4, 1979, and in less than a year after the victory of the Islamic Revolution that toppled a US-backed monarchy, Iranian university students that called themselves "students following the line of (the late) Imam (Khomeini)" seized the US embassy in Tehran.

The students justified the takeover by insisting that the compound had become a center of espionage and planning to overthrow the newly established Islamic system in Iran.

The students who seized the embassy later published documents proving that the compound was indeed engaged in plans and measures to overthrow the Islamic system.

Every year on the 13th day of the Iranian month of Aban (November 4), the Iranian nation, particularly the students, hold rallies across the country to mark the day.

In the capital city of Tehran, the rallies to mark the anniversary of the landmark move are held at the venue of the former US embassy, which is known by Iranians as “Den of Espionage.”