REPORT: Tehran rally shakes fist at America and outreach

In Tehran's largest anti-US rally in years, tens of thousands of demonstrators joined Monday in chants of "death to America" as hard-liners directed a major show of resolve against President Hassan Rouhani's outreach to Washington more than a generation after crowds on the same streets stormed and occupied the US Embassy.  

Such American-bashing protests occur every year outside the former embassy compound to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover following the Islamic Revolution. But the latest demonstration had a dual purpose of sending the boldest warning yet to Rouhani's government over whether it can expand dialogue with the US or offer the concessions needed to possibly settle the nuclear impasse with the West.

In a symbolic show of force, they slammed back at appeals by Rouhani's backers to drop the longstanding chant of "death to America" in light of the groundbreaking exchanges opened in late September during the annual UN General Assembly which included a call from President Barack Obama to Rouhani as the Iranian president headed to the airport. Ties between the two countries were severed after the embassy siege, which began a hostage crisis with 52 people held for 444 days.

On Monday, the chants of "death to America" rang out strongly among the more than 50,000 people outside the former embassy.

A group of protesters hurled insults and eggs at Rouhani's entourage upon his return from New York. Late last month, huge banners appeared around Tehran depicting the US as a sinister and deceitful adversary that seeks to weaken Iran. Tehran officials ordered the signs removed, but they appeared in poster form at the demonstration Monday outside the former embassy compound.  

Protesters also stomped on images of Obama and burned the US flag. Others carried well-known banners reading "We trample America under our feet" and "The US is the Great Satan." One image showed Obama in a wrestling uniform with Star of David earrings, symbolizing Israel.

Outside the former embassy's brick walls covered with anti-US murals students carried a model of a centrifuge used in uranium enrichment. A slogan on it read: "Result of resistance against sanctions: 18,000 active centrifuges in Iran."  


AP

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