Thousands of Iranians assembled on the streets of Tehran to observe the 30th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of US embassy. Thousands of these protesters confronted with the police and heavy clashes took place before they were dispersed.

Tear gas and batons were exercised by police to disperse the thousands of protesters and activists of opposition who gathered at haft-e-Tir square to mark the 30th anniversary and to demonstrate against the re-election of the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Large amounts of security has been arranged to prevent the activists of the opposition from using the event to express their anger at the government.

Over the june 12 presidential elections allegations of fraud were made and it prompted mass demonstrations and consequential crack down on the opposition.

Ahmadinejad’s main rival in the election was Mir Hossein Mousavi who suggested that a rally would be taken out according to his website. He said “The 13th of Aban is … a rendezvous so we can remember anew that among us it is the people who are the leaders”and referred to the date of capture of US embassy.

The sources have said that “The phone lines have been cut and we cannot access email from our offices, but what we are hearing and seeing from pictures being fed from the streets of Tehran are thousands of anti-government protesters who have been chanting pro-Mir Hossein Mousavi slogans and “death to the dictator” as well.

“We also understand that Mehdi Karroubi, one of the presidential candidates, on his way to [Haft-e-Tir] square was attacked.

“We understand he is OK, but two of his guards have been injured after attacks by pro-government supporters”.

The protesters were also expected to head for the Russian embassy. Baqer Moin, an Iranian author and a journalist said “Many people, rightly or wrongly, thought China and Russia were behind what happened with President Ahmadinejad, what happened in the election”

“It has been seen in various demonstrations that while the officials have been shouting anti-American slogans, they [the opposition] have been responding with anti-Russian slogans” he reported to al-Jazeera.

Iranians chanted “Death to America”, “Death to England” and “Death to Israel” after they assembled near the closed US embassy.

On November 4th, 1979 Iranian students entered the US embassy and 52 Americans were taken as hostages in response to Washington’s refusal of handing over Mohammad Reza pahlavi. The hostages were held for 444 days before they were released.

Senior Iranian religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri on Wednesday said that the capture of US embassy was a mistake. He said in a statement “The occupation of the American embassy at the start had the support of Iranian revolutionaries and the late Imam Khomeini [Iran's former supreme leader] and I supported it too,”

“But considering the negative repercussions and the high sensitivity which was created among the American people and which still exists, it was not the right thing to do”.

US president Barack Obama chose the occasion to appeal to Tehran to “choose” its future path. He said “It is time for the Iranian government to decide whether it wants to focus on the past, or whether it will make the choices that will open the door to greater opportunity, prosperity, and justice for its people, we have heard for 30 years what the Iranian government is against; the question, now, is what kind of future it is for”.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reacted towards the on going nuclear deal that would make Iran handover its supply of Uranium to the outside powers. He said “Every time they have a smile on their face, they are hiding a dagger behind their back, they are telling us to negotiate, but alongside the negotiation there is a threat… We do not want any negotiation, the result of which is pre-determined by the United States”.