Death to America Slogan; 37 Years of Repetition

Various officials of the Islamic Republic directed their attacks towards the U.S. government on Thursday, coinciding with the 13th of Aban, Student Day, and the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover, criticizing what they called the U.S.'s breach of commitments under the JCPOA. Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for not fulfilling its obligations under the JCPOA, including the lifting of financial and banking sanctions. The U.S. denies this, stating that the remaining sanctions relate to Iran's missile programs, support for terrorism, and human rights violations. It has been 37 years since the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was occupied and American staff were taken hostage. On the 13th of Aban in 1979, a group of revolutionary students, calling themselves followers of Imam Khomeini, scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of its employees hostage. The angry students demanded that the U.S. hand over Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, to the Islamic Republic officials for trial. Ayatollah Khomeini supported the students and even referred to the embassy takeover as the second revolution. A day after the embassy takeover, on the 14th of Aban, Khomeini labeled the U.S. as the Great Satan and referred to the U.S. Embassy as a den of spies. This slogan has been repeated numerous times by Islamic Republic officials since Khomeini. In October 2015, Ayatollah Khamenei stated: 'Imam Khomeini said the U.S. is the Great Satan; this 'Great Satan' is a very profound statement. The head of all the world's devils is Iblis. However, according to the Quran, the only thing Iblis can do is to seduce humans. More than seduction, he cannot do anything. He seduces, deceives, and tempts humans; but the U.S. seduces, kills, sanctions, and deceives.' Stephen Kinzer, a veteran journalist from the New York Times and political analyst who visited Iran after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term, believes that the Great Satan slogan or Death to America has little significance and states: 'I don't think that saying Great Satan or a slogan like Death to America has any importance now in Iran and America. During my visit to Iran, I found that the Iranian people are very pro-American. I think they are the biggest pro-American people in the world. Never have I been treated as well as in Iran when I said I was American. So I think if you want to gauge the possibility of reconciliation with America from the perspective of ordinary people, you will find many supporters in Iran and perhaps in some areas of America.' Henry Pect, who was in charge of the Iran desk at the U.S. State Department during the embassy hostage crisis, told Radio Farda that such slogans are the work of extremists that exist in both countries. Mr. Pect stated: 'No country wants to be talked about this way. Especially Americans who are proud. But I think these slogans are given by a group of extremists who dislike America and fear a good and respectful relationship between the two countries. We have similar extremists in America. There are people who do not want to forget and move past the past.' Ayatollah Khamenei attacked the U.S. government on Wednesday, November 12, in a meeting with students, stating: 'There are ten reasons to count that this statement is false. This statement is a lie. This statement is a deception. Compromise with America will not solve the country's problems at all. Not economic problems, not political problems, not security problems, not moral problems. Rather, it will make them worse.' According to the recent speech of the Supreme Leader, one 'wrong' thought is that Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, stood against America 'out of stubbornness and obstinacy.' However, the second 'wrong' thought, which occupies a larger portion of Ayatollah Khamenei's recent speech and which he has repeatedly addressed, is that 'solving the country's problems depends on negotiation and compromise with America.' Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, a political analyst in Germany, believes that Ayatollah Khamenei's conflict with America has roots in internal equations in Iran and states: 'Negotiating with America and resolving the Iran-U.S. crisis will have two immediate effects on Iran's political society. First, the government that resolves these problems, given its positive impact on the economy, will face severe popularity among public opinion, and Mr. Khamenei does not want this popularity to benefit the Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani faction and his long-time rivals. The second effect is that Mr. Khamenei will lose a significant bargaining tool in his internal negotiations and speeches. Imagine a day when Ayatollah Khamenei addresses his supporters and does not say anything against the enemy or the United States. Almost that day he will have nothing to say.' Hassan Rouhani and his government officials defend the policy of negotiating with America. On Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei labeled domestic supporters of negotiation with America as 'worn out and worldly.' He previously emphasized in September that there is 'absolute distrust towards America' and deemed any negotiation with this country as useless and an obstacle to progress. Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also warned on Thursday that if America does not fulfill its commitments under the JCPOA, Tehran will send this agreement to the museum and return to square one. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, also stated on Thursday in a meeting with the representative of the Supreme Leader in Kerman province that Iran has never relied on or trusted America's promises and is facing enemies with betrayal and malice. After being elected president, Hassan Rouhani stated about the relationship with America that the Iran-U.S. relationship is a complex and difficult issue; it is not simple, there is an old wound that needs to be healed, and Iran will not seek to increase tensions. This old wound, as Hassan Rouhani described it, began with the occupation of the U.S. Embassy. Some former students who scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran now believe that it was not the right thing to do. Masoumeh Ebtekar, the current head of the Department of Environment and an active student during the hostage crisis, regrets the diplomatic isolation of Iran but stated on Wednesday to AFP that she is proud of exposing CIA documents obtained from the U.S. Embassy takeover. One of the students who played an active role in the U.S. Embassy takeover and wished to remain anonymous previously told Radio Farda that the embassy takeover should be assessed in its time and place. This student states: 'I clearly say that the students' action in no way meant that we intended to place America in the position of an eternal enemy and that this relationship would be cut off forever. In our initial statements and early interviews, it was clear that our intention was to protest against America, and if America had acted to expel the Shah, certainly these heavy consequences that affected both Iran and America would not have occurred.' Stephen Kinzer, the New York Times journalist and political analyst, believes that the hostage-taking was a mistake and adds: 'I always appreciate when people review their past behavior and recognize that they made a mistake. I think it is interesting that many former hostage-takers are now advocates for reconciliation and relations with America. Of course, it would have been better if they had reached this conclusion sooner, but thinking in the present is better than not thinking about it at all.' Mr. Rouhani also stated about the relationship with America that Iran's current relations with the U.S. are at the level of enmity and conflict, and Iran should try to lower this level through planning and management and at least reduce relations from enmity to tension. Meanwhile, supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei have explicitly accused Rouhani's government in recent months of attempting to negotiate with America. In October, Ali Saidi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC, accused Rouhani's government of seeking a connection with America through the nuclear agreement and still pursuing JCPOA 2 and 3. Hassan Rouhani, in his Nowruz message in 2016, referred to the parliamentary elections of February 2016 as the beginning of JCPOA 2 and stated that this JCPOA begins with ethics before economics. Hours after that, Ayatollah Khamenei, in a speech in Mashhad, criticized without mentioning names the discussion of JCPOA 2 and 3 and those whom he said had pinned their hopes on negotiations with America to solve Iran's problems.