Republican or Democrat, Iran stance on US antagonism remains unchanged: IRGC

Iranian students attend a rally marking the US embassy takeover, in Gilan Province on November 4, 2019. (Photo by IRNA news agency)

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has described the fight against global arrogance as an inherent feature of the Iranian nation and a principle of the Islamic Revolution, saying the strategy will not be subject to change due to any shift of power between Republicans and Democrats in the United States.

“After more than 60 years of confrontation and animosity [demonstrated] by the domineering US regime towards the Iranian people with Democratic or Republican presidents at the helm of power, what stands out as an irrefutable fact, especially over the past four decades, is that the US arrogance and hostility towards the Islamic Republic have not changed,” the IRGC said in a statement, referring to the 1953 coup d’état against the elected government of Iran’s then-prime minster Mohammad Mosaddeq and Washington’s antagonism that ensued the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

The statement was published on the eve of the 41st anniversary of the occupation of the former American embassy in Tehran, dubbed the “Den of Spies.”

On November 4, 1979, a group of university students took over the diplomatic mission, which they believed had turned into a center of espionage plotting to overthrow the nascent Islamic Republic, and held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days. 

Documents found at the embassy corroborated claims by the revolutionary students that Washington had been using the compound to hatch plots against Iran.

The 13th day of the Iranian calendar month of Aban, which falls on November 3 this year, is also known as the Student Day and the National Day of Fight against Global Arrogance.

Each year, Iranians commemorate the occasion by staging rallies, but this year’s events were canceled due to an increase in the spread of COVID-19 in recent week, which has driven the government to adopt measures to restrain the pandemic.