Iranians demonstrate outside US embassy compound

The Guardian - Protests in Tehran marking 1979 siege are largest in years and follow moderate president's attempts to ease tensions with US

Iranian hardliners have demonstrated in their tens of thousands outside the US embassy building in Tehran, holding anti-American placards, waving flags and shouting "Death to America", according to Iranian media.

The crowd gathered to mark the anniversary of 1979 seizure of the embassy. The protests highlight the considerable obstacles President Hassan Rouhani faces in his diplomatic initiatives to ease tensions with Washington.

Such protests take place every year outside the former embassy compound to mark the anniversary, but Monday's rally was the largest in years after calls by groups including the Revolutionary Guard for a major demonstration.

The 1979 siege began when student activists stormed the embassy, taking 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days. The two countries have not re-established diplomatic relations since.

This year's protests have taken on greater significance because of the new government's attempts to ease tensions with the west, exacerbated during the presidency of Rouhani's predecessor, hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rouhani was elected in June on a platform of establishing better diplomatic relations and jump-starting talks over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

A short telephone conversation between him and the US president, Barack Obama, after the UN general assembly in September was applauded by many Iranians but met with suspicion by hardliners in the country.

On Sunday, the Islamic Republic's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave strong backing to Iran's nuclear negotiators, an apparent warning to hardliners against accusing Rouhani of compromising with its old enemy.

"No one should consider our negotiators as compromisers," Khamenei said in a speech. "They have a difficult mission and no one must weaken an official who is busy with work."

On Saturday, an editorial by conservative newspaper Kayhan warned against trusting the US in current nuclear negotiations and said there were signs that "the Americans are aiming to trick the Islamic Republic" in the next round of talks this week.

The new mood of Iranian diplomacy has also brought into question the use of the slogan "Death to America". While moderate figures have suggested it is time to drop the phrase, conservatives say it is as important now as ever before.

In a state TV interview, the head of the parliamentary committee for national security, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, described the chant as the "mildest response" to US global interference.