Iran commander says US in ‘strong decline’
Every year on November 3-4, Iran celebrates the 444-day siege of the American embassy
Tehran: A senior Iranian military official welcomed on Thursday what he said was the “strong decline” of the United States, during celebrations marking the start of the 1979 US embassy siege.
“America is no longer number one and the first power of the world,” deputy Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told thousands gathered outside the former US mission in Tehran.
“America’s political will can no longer manage political and military development in... the world of Islam. America’s political power has strongly declined.”
Every year on November 3-4, Iran celebrates the 444-day siege of the embassy when more than 50 diplomats, staff and spies were taken hostage by Islamist students demanding the extradition of the shah, who had fled to America after being deposed a few months earlier in the Islamic revolution.
The crisis severed US-Iranian diplomatic ties for decades, but Tehran last year clinched a deal with world powers to curb its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.
