Roundup: Iranians vent anger by painting graffiti on US embassy wall

The wall of the former U.S. Embassy in Iran's capital Tehran has turned into a site of struggle to position different sentiments towards Uncle Sam's presence in Iran.

Several days after the graffiti "Death to America" was painted over on the eastern wall of former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, it re-emerged on Wednesday to reveal a battle among groups of Iranian citizens over the relations with the United States.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980, after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and captured some 60 U.S. diplomats in 1979, 52 of whom being in captivity for 444 days in the hostage crisis.

However and despite the departure of the U.S. diplomats from Iran some 35 years ago, the building of the embassy stood there to recall the past relations of the United States with Iran.

Namely, hardliners gathered before the building from time to time to pronounce their anger and protest against the U.S. policies vis-a-vis Iran over the past decades. Also, there were inclinations among some Iranians and marginalized politicians to restore ties with the United States.

Recently, the graffiti "Death to America 2015" and "Death To America 1394 (Iranian calendar)" were painted over the walls of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran which stirred up anger of Iranian Basij students.

The graffiti of "Death to America" would remain on the walls of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran's Basij Student Organization said in an announcement on Tuesday.

"Basij Student Organization announces this to the Iranian people that the slogan of Death to America will ever decorate the walls of this place (former U.S. Embassy)," the announcement by the public relations of the organization said.

"Not only the Iranian people but all the Muslims and the world people are entitled to shout Death to America due to the oppressive policies of the United States," the announcement read.

On Wednesday, Iranian Basij students unveiled a plaque at the gate of the embassy in Tehran, on which one hundred condemnations by the late founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, about the United States had been written. Followingly, they set fire to U.S., British and Israeli flags.

Also on Wednesday, the wiped out "Death to America" reappeared on the painted part of the wall which had concealed the slogan.

Although five painted patches on the eastern blank wall of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran had erased graffiti posted by some radical anti-U.S. people, the eye-catching and bold slogans against the U.S. still remained on the southern wall of the embassy on Tehran's Taleghani street.

"Death to the U.S" at the entrance of the main gate of the former U.S. Embassy, which has now turned into a museum and a cultural complex, has been dramatically noticeable by every passerby.

This is an "illusion" that the recent nuclear deal will lead to the removal of the slogan and the return of the United States to the country, Basij Student Organization, which is currently in charge of the cultural affairs in the complex, criticized the scrubbing of the slogans from the former embassy eastern wall.

Last week, Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, said time was not ripe to talk of reopening the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The United States should first change its "illogical attitude" towards Iran, he said as British embassy was reopened after four years of closure in Tehran.

On Aug. 17, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said the recent nuclear deal with world powers would not pave the way for U.S. influence in Iran.

"They thought that this deal, which is not clear to be ratified there (in the United States) or here, will help them find a way for their influence in the country, but we blocked this way and we will block it determinedly," Khamenei said.

"We will neither allow U.S. economic and political influence nor cultural, and with our utmost power .. we will counter their influence," he said.

The supreme leader added that Iran would not allow the influence of the United States in the region either.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany -- reached a comprehensive deal on Tehran's nuclear program on July 14, resolving the decade-long issue.

After the landmark deal, international sanctions on Tehran are expected to be lifted and foreign investments pour in after years of isolation. Endit