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Iran Stages Rallies to Mark 1979 U.S. Embassy Hostage Crisis
(AFP) Iranian demonstrators gathered on Sunday outside the former U.S. embassy in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis. Following the Islamic Revolution that year led by Iran's late supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini, students loyal to Khomeini stormed the embassy building and held 52 staff hostage for 444 days while demanding that Washington hand over Iran's recently toppled shah, who was being treated in the U.S. for cancer. Crowds of Iranians chanted "Death to Israel, Death to America!" outside the building, which is currently a museum known as the "Den of Spies," and covered with anti-American murals. Some burned the Israeli and U.S. flags.