A mass protest in Tehran on Monday commemorated the 40th anniversary of the US embassy takeover by university students in 1979.
Demonstrators gathered in front of the former site of the US embassy known as the ‘den of spies’ in the morning and marked the anniversary by burning the US flag and re-invoking the incident by a theatrical display of actors representing the US, UK, Israel, and Saudi Arabia in captivity.
Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi addressed the rallying crowds saying, “The Americans will continue their enmity towards us. They are like a proverbial poisonous scorpion whose nature is to sting and who cannot be stopped unless it is crushed.”
In November 1979, a group of university students took over the US embassy, believed to have turned into a centre of espionage and plotting against Iran. Fifty-two US citizens were held hostage for a total number of 444 days in the aftermath of the takeover.
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