TEHRAN – Hundreds of thousands of people, particularly students, held rallies all over the country on Thursday to mark the Aban 13, the day marking the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.

The 13th of Aban in the Iranian calendar, which corresponds to November 4, is Iran’s national day of struggle against the global arrogance (imperialist powers) and the anniversary of the university students’ seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, which was called the Den of Spies. It was also the anniversary of the exile of the founder of the Islamic Republic, the late Imam Khomeini, in 1964.
Parties, associations, and organizations including the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, the Society of Seminary Teachers, and the Islamic Society of Iranian Students had issued separate statements on Wednesday calling for high turnout on the Aban 13 rallies.
In Tehran, students and other loyalists held a gathering in front of the former U.S. embassy in Taleqani Street and shouted slogans of ‘Down with the U.S.’ and ‘Down with Israel.’
At the end of the gathering, a statement was read out, in which students called on the government to make a bid in international conferences for the designation of the 13th of Aban as the ‘international day of struggle against the global arrogance.’
The students also called for resistance against pressures on Iran by the U.S. and other bullying and hegemonic powers.
During the same day, a number of the Basij volunteer forces and students staged a protest in front of the British embassy in Tehran and shouted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Britain.’
They also issued a statement warning the British officials that if they do not apologize to the Iranian nation for their hostile actions, “their flag will be trampled underfoot in the near future.”