His statement, which was published on the Sepahnews information website of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), came while IRGC head Mohammad Ali Jafari announced earlier that “only Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khemenei can determine of the range of Iranian missiles”.
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Going back through more than half a century of U.S.-Iranian history, the leader said the slogan was justified and would stay. Seeking American sympathy, Mossadegh traveled to the United States in hopes that it would side with Iran against the British.
The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was addressing a few students during an important anniversary jubilee and the usual calls of Death to America were filling the air.
Yesterday, Iran celebrated the anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis, when regime supporters overtook the American embassy in Tehran and held over 60 American hostages for 444 days.
The U.S. Embassy was known as the “Den of Espionage”, IRNA reported.
Despite a thaw in relations during the nuclear talks, Iran’s hardliners are wary of embracing any Western-style restaurants, which they say is “behavior contrary to Islamic-Iranian culture and traditions”.
“Thanks to their vigilance, the intelligence and security forces identified and cracked down on a network of penetration in the media and cyberspace, and detained spies and writers hired by the Americans”, said Ebrahim Raeisi, Iran’s prosecutor general.
On Monday, a majority of Iranian legislators said the Islamic republic would not drop the “Death to America” slogan despite the nuclear accord.
Relations between the US and Iran have improved somewhat under current President Hassan Rouhani and with the announcement of a nuclear deal this summer. On Tuesday, Arutz Sheva reported that the Iranian government had followed up on these warning by instituting an active blockade of nearly all US-made or American-branded goods.
Israel too sees a threat from conventional missile attacks, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said last week, without naming Iran explicitly, and said he thought the nuclear deal had delayed but not removed the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon. They’re now believed to be held along with three other Americans in Iran, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian.
From school assemblies to Friday prayers and city billboards, it is a slogan still ubiquitous in Iran: “Death to America!”
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“Food products from Iranian KFC have nothing to do with KFC” in the United States, he said. “The Iranian people are not looking for war with any country, but at the same time, the policies of the United States have been against the national interests of the Iranian people”.
