A sea of protesters gathers outside the former US embassy in Iran. Hardline supporters of Iran's government, bused into the centre of Tehran for the yearly rally, are marching past wall-sized graffiti of a skull-faced Statue of Liberty while chanting "down with the USA."
The demonstration commemorates Iranian students’ 1979 raiding of the embassy and their seizure of 54 American diplomats and citizens — an act that severed relations between the two countries just months after Iran deposed the US-backed Shah and established itself as an Islamic Republic.
Near the protest platform where Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards commander Mohamad Ali Jafari is about to deliver a speech, six men re-enact a hostage-taking scene. All except one is covered in silver paint. An actor wearing police glasses draws his pistol, pointing it at a man painted in gold, a portrait of US President Donald Trump held to his face.
The message is not lost on the protesters. As the US imposed its latest round of sanctions Monday, the Islamic Republic appeared to tell its supporters that it still intends to bring America to its knees.
“I think Donald Trump is insane, and he can't do anything to us because we have Imam Khamenei, and he is the best person I have ever seen in my life,” says a chador-clad Mobina Jari, 15, referring to the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“People are gathering here to confront America,” says Mullah Mohammed, who declines to disclose his full name for security reasons. The blue-eyed cleric stands with his back against a wall, as protesters carrying banners and effigies of Trump, portrayed as a woman, an infant and, in one case, a turkey, stream past. “The American people are different from the state. The Great Satan is the government.
“It's true that (the sanctions) create pressure for our innocent people, but our people are so resistant that they will pass these hardships.”
On Monday, the US reimposed all sanctions against Iran that had been lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement, with some temporary exemptions. President Trump said Sunday they were “the strongest sanctions that our country has ever issued.”
After primarily targeting Iran's automotive and aviation industries with penalties this August, the November 5 sanctions hit Iran's oil and gas sector, its shipping industry and its banks. The ultimate goal of the measures, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is to bring Iran's oil exports to “zero.”
Despite the US State Department's repeated certifications that Iran was abiding by its end of the deal, the Trump administration withdrew from the accord in May 2015. Trump described it as a “horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.”
The move spurred an exodus of international companies, including European giants Total and Airbus, from Iran. The value of Iran's Riyal plummeted by around 70%, and inflation has spiralled.
