DUBAI: Iranians chanting “Death to America” rallied on Sunday to mark both the anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the imminent reimposition of US sanctions on Iran’s key oil sector.

Thousands of students in the government-organised rally in the capital Tehran, broadcast live by state television, burned the Stars and Stripes, an effigy of Uncle Sam and pictures of President Donald Trump outside the leafy downtown compound that once housed the US mission.

Hardline students stormed the embassy on Nov 4, 1979, soon after the fall of the US-backed Shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days. The two countries have been enemies, on opposite sides of Middle East conflict, ever since.

Iranian state media said millions turned out for rallies in most cities and towns around the country, swearing allegiance to the clerical establishment and its top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The turnout figure could not be independently confirmed by Reuters.

Rallies replete with “Death to America” chants are staged on the embassy takeover anniversary every year. But US-Iranian rancour is especially strong this time round following President Trump’s decision in May to withdraw the United States from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and re-impose sanctions on Tehran.

The deal brought about the lifting of most international financial and economic sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran curbing its disputed nuclear activity under UN surveillance.

Mr Trump said the deal, approved by predecessor Barack Obama, was weak and flawed in Iran’s favour. The other signatories — US allies Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia and China — remain committed to the accord.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2018