Iranian students take part in a rally marking the 37th anniversary of taking over the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian students in Tehran, capital of Iran, on Nov. 3, 2016. Tens of thousands of Iranians held nationwide demonstrations on Thursday to mark the 37th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. mission by Iranian students, Iranians have been celebrating the occasion every year by holding rallies on the anniversary and marking it as the "National Day against the Global Arrogance." (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
TEHRAN, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Iranians held nationwide demonstrations on Thursday to mark the 37th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, a continuation of their decades-long protests against the United States.
Since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. mission by Iranian students, which followed the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah dynasty in Iran, Iranians have been marking the occasion every year by holding rallies on the anniversary dubbed as "National Day against the Global Arrogance."
The occasion this year attracted the attention of foreign media as it followed the implementation of a deal clinched between Iran and world powers to solve the decade-long Iranian nuclear issue.
On Thursday, demonstrators gathered outside the former U.S. embassy in central Tehran, now called "den of espionage," carrying placards denouncing the "arrogant powers" and shouting anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans.
In 2013, the election of Hassan Rouhani as the Iranian president signalled the thaw of relations with the United States, but observers say hardliners in Iran are pushing to heighten anti-U.S. sentiments by insisting on the slogan of "Death to America" at different gatherings, criticizing Rouhani for reaching out to Washington and the West in general to solve the country's nuclear issue and economic problems.
Also on Thursday, a senior commander from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that if the United States fails to adhere to last year's nuclear deal, Iran will reconsider its obligations.
"The Iranian nation is bound to its nuclear commitments, but this commitment is not a one way road," said the lieutenant commander of the IRGC, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, on the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy.
"If the United States does not meet its obligations, we will return to the point prior to the nuclear agreement," he said. "We will reactivate our centrifuges with even further force."
The nuclear deal was reached between Iran and world powers in July 2015 and was implemented in January 2016.
The deal saw Iran scrap major parts of its nuclear program in return for easing Western and international sanctions.
The United Sates still maintains sanctions on Iran over alleged violations of human rights and support of terrorism, all of which Iran denies.
As for the Islamic republic's development of a missile program and the West's concerns regarding it, Salami said Thursday that Iran will continue to develop its deterrent power and will improve it.
He hailed the seizure of the U.S. embassy, saying it was an outcome of the Islamic revolution.
Salami decried as "unreal" what he called U.S. claims of combating terrorism, disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, and seeking world peace.
He praised "resistance" movements in Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Bahrain as signs of the expansion of Iran's Islamic revolution regionally and also as an indicator of the "decadent" U.S. influence over the Middle East.
A day earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out the possibility of restoring ties with the United states, saying that compromise and negotiations with Washington will not solve regional and domestic problems of Iran.
He said that there is a discourse which endorses the relations with the United States based on the logic that "if we compromise with America, all the problems of our country will be solved."
"This belief is very dangerous... since there are accurate reasonings to prove that this is a lie, deceptive and wrong," Khamenei said.
"An example to prove the falsehood of this belief is the attitude of the United States vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear deal," Khamenei said.
He again repeated his comments on the "un-trustability" of the United States.
"It is not only me who says they are insincere," Khamenei said. "Even other Iranian officials and nuclear negotiators themselves are talking of insincerity of the United States" in the fulfilment of its obligations pertaining to the nuclear deal.
"Is it possible for the U.S. government which uses every opportunity to antagonize the Iranian nation to solve our problems?" he asked.
"The main objective of the United States is to hinder Iran's progress, and the negotiations with the U.S. will not settle our economic problems," he said.
"The Iranians will never compromise with the U.S.," Khamenei said. "Iranians will never forget U.S. crimes."
The U.S. embassy was stormed by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979, and its personnel were held hostage for 444 days. The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 and the ties between the two countries have remained severed ever since.
