Thousands of Iranians Rally on Hostage Anniversary

Tens of thousands of protesters chanting “Death to America!” marched outside the former U.S. Embassy on Monday in a staged rally highlighting hard-liners’ wariness about any possible rapprochement with the Islamic Republic’s arch-enemy.

The turnout was the largest in years at what has become an annual event marking the anniversary of the Nov. 4, 1979, takeover of the embassy and the seizure of U.S. hostages. Iran’s official media said millions participated in similar gatherings across the country.

The timing of the much-anticipated and heavily choreographed demonstrations was widely viewed as a pointed message to President Hassan Rouhani at a time when the new president has embarked on a controversial diplomatic outreach to Washington.

In September, Rouhani and President Obama spoke via telephone on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, marking the highest-level contact between U.S. and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

President Rouhani “must remain revolutionary,” said Morteza Fatollah Zadeh, 22, a student who was among the legions gathered outside the former embassy walls, now festooned with anti-U.S. slogans and crude caricatures of President Obama.

A poster at the gate of the former embassy compound urged protesters to shout, “Death to USA!”

Accompanying the anti-U.S. shouts on Monday were the customary cries of “Death to Israel!”

Among the protesters were groups of women dressed in black robes and schoolchildren bused in for the occasion.

The marchers set ablaze U.S. flags and effigies of Obama.

This article appeared in print on page 2 of the November 5th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.