UPI: Demonstrators gathered in front of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran to commemorate the 1979 embassy takeover by Iranian students. United Press International
TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Demonstrators gathered in front of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran to commemorate the 1979 embassy takeover by Iranian students.
The occupation, which lasted 444 days and included 52 hostages, prompted the United States to cut relations with Iran. The takeover began as a protest demanding that the United States return the Shah — overthrown by the Islamic revolution 11 months prior — to Tehran for trial, CNN said.
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, speaker of Iran’s parliament, said the biggest result from the occupation was dispelling the “myth” of U.S. power worldwide, CNN said.
Haddad-Adel said the United States should know that “sanctions and threats will have no effect on the Iranian nation’s will,” according to Islamic Republic News Agency, the Iranian government’s new agency.
The demonstrators called for an end to the U.S. presence in the Middle East, saying its presence heightened tensions in the region, the government news agency said.
