TEHRAN – Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, has said the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran was a “legitimate” action that protected the Islamic Revolution and the country’s territorial integrity.

In an interview with Mehr news agency published on Thursday, Marandi said the U.S. embassy had turned into a place to overthrow the new establishment and it would have become a big threat if it was not taken over.

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans, including diplomats and staff, hostage. They were held hostage for 444 days.

The embassy in Tehran is now an Islamic cultural center and a museum. It stands as a symbol of the Iranian revolution, and is known in Iran as the “den of spies.”

Marandi said Washington’s interference in Iran’s affairs led to a decisive response by the Iranian people, which eventually harmed the United States and destroyed its grandeur in the world.

Each year on November 4, Iranians take to the streets across the country to commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure.

MH/PA