Students across the country will be ringing school bells with chants of Death to America on Wednesday, November 2, and special programs will be held in schools, said a statement by the public relations department of the Ministry of Education, carried by the Persian-language website Aftab, which belongs to the State Expediency Council. The anniversary ceremonies are being held two days earlier this year, as November 4 falls on Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.
There will be a statement on the November 4 anniversary condemning the warmongering policies of the U.S. and the Zionist regime, the Education Ministry statement said.
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students led by a close confidante of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive. The incident triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and lasted 444 days. Many of the hostage-takers went on to become major political figures in Iran in subsequent years.
A series of activities are planned to mark the occasion, which will include parades, cultural and arts contests, essay-writing competition and newspaper production by students, and all will be centred on the themes, Why Death to America and Zionists?, Hating the Great Satan America, The Role of Students in the Scientific Development of the Country and Quest for Justice at the Heart of Domestic and International Issues.
