Thousands of Iranians have been chanting “Death to America” on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy.<br /><br /> Although President Hassan Rohani has been trying to ease tensions with Washington over Tehran’s nuclear programme, many people use this date to denounce a “nest of spies”.<br /><br /> The rally outside the former embassy complex is an annual rite in Iran but took on extra resonance this year as a barometer of hardline conservative opposition to Rohani’s diplomatic opening to the West after eight years of increasing confrontation under predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. <br /><br /> Many hardliners say recent revelations about US spying prove that American embassies are places of espionage.<br /><br /> The 1979 siege began when, 10 months after the fall of the US-allied Shah of Iran, radical students stormed the embassy, taking hostage 52 staff for an eventual 444 days. <br /><br /> There have been no US-Iranian diplomatic relations since.
