TEHRAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranians staged huge rallies across the country on Saturday to protest against the United States and Israel in commemoration of its 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the capital streets from various areas of the sprawling metropolis toward the Azadi (Freedom) Square in the city center.
Among them was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials.
They waved banners and chanted slogans against Washington and Israel, holding high pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini, founding father of the Islamic Republic.
At the Azadi Square, a big banner reading "The Holocaust a Myth!Zionist Liar!" was held high above the crowd.
At Khomeini's mausoleum, on Tehran's southern outskirts,demonstrators torched a U.S. national flag and effigies of U.S.President George W. Bush.
Rages over the pressure from the West on the country's nuclear program also prevailed during the demonstrations.
"We will never give in on the peaceful nuclear technology," and"Nobody can prevent us from obtaining legal rights," were shouted by thousands of protestors at the Azadi Square.
During the rallies, the demonstrators lost no chance to protest against the recent publications of cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammad by some European papers.
Iran's state television reported with live pictures that other major Iranian cities, such as Qom and Tabriz, also witnessed similar rallies. TV reports said demonstrations in other major cities started simultaneously with those in Tehran.
On Feb. 1, 1979, Khomeini, who had lived in France in exile for years, returned to Tehran and on Feb. 11 he took power abandoned by former Shah Pahlavi, who went abroad one month before amid escalating uproar against his regime.
Saturday's commemoration came one week after the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), decided to report Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Enditem | 
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