Iranians burn a doll representing Israel and America during a demonstration outside the former US embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on November 4, 2017, marking the anniversary of its storming by student protesters that triggered a hostage crisis in 1979. (AFP Photo)

TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Iranians held demonstrations in Iran's capital Tehran on Saturday to mark the 38th anniversary of the seizure of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

On Saturday, demonstrators gathered outside the former U.S. Embassy in central Tehran, now called "den of espionage," carrying placards and shouting anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans.

Since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. mission by Iranian students, which followed the overthrow of the then U.S.-backed shah, or king, 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 followed the aggressive remarks of the U.S. President Donald Trump against Iran last month, who accused Iran and its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps of agitating regional instability and exporting violence.

Trump also refused to recertify and threatened to terminate the hard-won Iran nuclear accord, saying it was "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."

The embassy was stormed by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979, and its personnel were held hostage for 444 days. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 and the ties between the two countries have remained severed ever since.