Iran's IRGC blames U.S. for problems

TEHRAN, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in a statement Monday blamed Washington for creating many problems in the country and in the region.

"The honorable nation of the Islamic Iran considers the U.S., the Great Satan, as the main contributor to problems in the Muslim world and source of plots and conspiracies against the Islamic republic and the Islamic Revolution," the IRGC statement said.

The statement said the United States would witness the disdain the Islamic republic had during mass oppositions against Washington scheduled for Wednesday, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.

Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, holding 53 Americans hostage for 444 days.

The Fars report says thousands of Iranians are expected to demonstrate in front of the U.S. Embassy compound Wednesday chanting anti-American slogans.

The Iranian military warned opposition forces in the Reformist camp against taking advantage of the anniversary Wednesday to wage their own protests.

The Mehr News Agency notes the Iranian government on Monday closed Reformist newspaper Sarmayeh in part because it changed the size and format of the newspaper in violation of its publication license.