‘Down with US’: Trump effigy & dollars burned in Iran as protesters decry sanctions return (PHOTOS)

A day ahead of the anti-Iranian sanctions coming back into force, thousands took to the streets of Tehran to condemn the US and Donald Trump. Marking the 1979 US embassy takeover, the rally saw American and Israeli flags burned.

Crowds held anti-American banners, some of which read ‘Down with US’, in the Iranian capital on Sunday. An effigy of the US President Donald Trump, placed on huge prints of a 100 US dollar banknote, was burned outside the former US embassy, while others were seen burning actual dollars.

Local media reported that similar demonstrations were held across the country.

© AFP / Atta Kenare

RT’s video agency Ruptly on Sunday asked Tehranis about the impact of sanctions on their lives. Some said they’re already used to them, while others chose to downplay the effect.

“Regarding oil sanctions, we had experience of it in previous periods and we could also get through them somehow,” a man named Moaref told Ruptly. Another man, Mohammadi, called the US-imposed measures on oil“senseless slogans” that have “no impact on people's lives.”

However, one woman named Tahereh said that the sanctions will “definitely affect people’s lives.” “Even if those sanctions cannot be seen in the market, it certainly affects people’s minds and creates problems among people,” she added.

© AFP/ Atta Kenare

November 4 marks 39 years since the 1979 US embassy takeover. Back then student activists stormed the US diplomatic compound, taking 52 embassy staff hostage. The 444-day siege led to the two nations cutting ties, not having restored relations to this day.

© AFP / Atta Kenare

Iran celebrates the embassy takeover every year as a blow against Washington, which had supported the autocratic rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran. The latter was overthrown during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The closed US embassy compound, locally known as the “nest of spies,” is currently a cultural center.

READ MORE: Trump to reinstate all US sanctions on Iran, targeting over 700 entities & individuals

© AFP / Atta Kenare

Tensions reached boiling point in May this year, after Donald Trump walked away from the historic 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. Even key US allies, including France and Germany, failed to talk Trump, the long-time critic of the deal, out of the decision. The US withdrawal from the deal came despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Tehran’s compliance with the accord on numerous occasions.

© AFP / Atta Kenare

READ MORE: EU 404? Not finding itself on Iran exemption list, Europe vows to defy US sanctions

During the six months after the withdrawal from the accord, Trump re-imposed most of the sanctions on Iran that had been suspended under the deal. The latest batch is scheduled to come into effect on November 5 and is expected to see 700 people blacklisted. On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke out against the latest round of sanctions, blasting Trump for having “disgraced” US prestige and what remains of its liberal democracy.

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