Iran shows off missile to mark 38th anniversary of U.S. Embassy takeover

Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Iran marked the 38th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Saturday by displaying a missile and holding anti-U.S. demonstrations.

Iran showed off its most powerful missile, the liquid-filled, surface-to-surface Qadr, which the semiofficial Fars News agency says it can travel 1,243 miles, including to Israel.

Demonstrators held anti-U.S. and anti-Israel signs and chanted slogans, including "Down With the US," condemning Washington's policies toward Iran.

They gathered at the former embassy where Iranian student revolutionaries climbed over the walls on Nov. 4, 1979, and seized 52 Americans, holding them hostage for 444 days.

Protests take place annually in front of what is known locally as the "den of espionage."

Roghaye Riyahi, 35, said she has marked the takeover at the site for the past 20 years.

"I think that even if I live 120 years, the enmity with America will not be buried - at least not as long as America doesn't change its hostile policy toward Iran," Riyahi told the Los Angeles Times. "In fact, today, Trump the madman has contributed to our celebration of the takeover and more people have taken part -- gloriously and wholeheartedly."

During a rally Saturday, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, who has refused to re-certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"The U.S. has long been dealt blows by our country and our region and thus regularly bares its warmongering teeth," Shamkhani said, according to state-run Press TV. "And when a missile is tested thousands of kilometers away, after [issuing empty] threats, all their president does is put out a tweet," he said in an apparent reference to North Korea's missile tests.

Tighter security was handled by Iranian police and the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.