On Sunday, Iranian demonstrators gathered outside the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, marking the 45th anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis that has long defined the hostile relationship between Iran and the United States.
The crisis began in November 1979, shortly after the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted the U.S.-backed shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. In the aftermath, pro-Khomeini students stormed the embassy, taking 52 American staff members hostage for 444 days.
They demanded that Washington hand over the exiled shah, who was in the U.S. for cancer treatment. The U.S. broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980 during the standoff, and relations have remained severed ever since.
Outside the former embassy, now known as the “Den of Spies” and covered in anti-American murals, crowds chanted, “Death to Israel, death to America!” while others set U.S. and Israeli flags ablaze. Annual rallies have commemorated the event since 1979, serving as a reminder of the revolution’s anti-Western fervor.
Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a warning to the United States and Israel. “The enemies, both the USA and the Zionist regime, should know that they will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing against Iran, the Iranian nation, and the resistance front,” Khamenei declared in a speech to students in Tehran, signaling Iran’s readiness to respond to any perceived provocations.
* The Times of Israel contributed to this article.
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