Violence and protests against the United States continues to erupt in Iran as many believe that the country has made too many concessions to the Western powers.
Anti-American violent protests continued in Iran on Wednesday as thousands gathered to burn American flags and celebrate the 36th anniversary of the taking of American hostages at the American embassy in Teheran. Despite reaching a nuclear accord with many of the world powers in July, most Iranians, especially the hard liners, believe that the present government in Teheran is bowing too much to Western influence.
Prior to the agreement in July, Iran had been cut off from most of the rest of the world by way of serious sanctions in response to its nuclear program. Iran agreed to back off from its nuclear arms program because it needs Western money and access to Western markets to survive, according to Time Magazine.
Iran, however, continues to inform the world of their cutting edge missile defense systems designed to repel any attacks from their enemies real or perceived. The Iranian army has even been deployed to Syria to engage in the ongoing civil war there. This has been the stance of the country’s hard line hawks and is designed to stifle descent at home and to inspire fear abroad. Israel, as well as many other Middle East nations, have begun to look toward Iran with suspicious and wary eyes.
The violent protests of Wednesday marked the time when in November 1979 Iranian militants captured the American embassy in Teheran and held 44 Americans hostage for 444 days. It cost Jimmy Carter the presidential election back in the United States. The hostages were immediately freed on the day Ronald Reagan became president. They knew that Reagan was someone not to be trifled with and the Iranians believed they had made their point. Since that time, America and Iran have had no diplomatic relations whatsoever.
Protesters shouted “God d**n America!” and “No compromise, no surrender to the U.S.!”
Recent violence has been aimed against American entities there such as Starbucks and McDonald’s. Protesters look to boycott them while a KFC was recently shut down for, supposedly, not having a business license. The protests were organized by the central government, which is a theocracy, and has been called the “National Day Against Global Arrogance.”
