Iranians mark 13 Aban occasion with nationwide rallies

Aban 13 (Nov. 4) marks three important events: the anniversary of the takeover of the former US embassy in Tehran by Muslim students following Imam Khomeini's path (1979), the anniversary of the exile of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini by Shah (1964), and the Student Day (marking the day in 1978 on which several students taking part in a protest rally against the Shah were martyred.)

The rallies Aban 13th are the National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance in Iran, in which Iranians gather to hold the anniversary of 13 Aban.

The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran(1 Apr. 1979) following the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and the victory of the Islamic Revolution (11 Feb. 1979 ) was detrimental to the arrogant powers whose access to Iran's resources was restricted.

As the newly-established Islamic Republic of Iran adopted an independent foreign policy based on the "Neither East Nor West" motto and blocked any foreign interference, the hegemony of the US became Iran’s number one enemy.

On November 3, the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini delivered a decisive speech and called on Iranian people, students, and the clergies to thwart any US and Zionist Regime conspiracies against the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran and also to oblige the US government to hand over the fugitive former dictator, who had gone to New York in late October for a so-called treat. As the Shah suppressed the peaceful demonstrations (1978-1979), plundered the national wealth, and tortured and martyred many Iranian Muslims, Imam Khomeini insisted that he must be returned to Iran to face trial and justice in the country.

US interference in Iran's internal affairs, its refusal to hand over the fugitive Shah as well as the meeting of some Interim government officials with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter (November 1, 1978), flared up Iranian's rage and made them take some retaliatory measures.

Following all the incidents and happenings, a group of Iranian Muslim university students decided to take over the US embassy on Taleghani Street in Tehran.

On 4 Nov. 1979, on the first anniversary of the massacre of 56 Iranian pupils by Shah’s troops, and the day on which Imam Khomeini was exiled to Turkey (4 Nov. 1964) by the oppressive regime of Pahlavi, people gathered at the University of Tehran to denounce the US conspiracies and interferences against Iran.

Among ordinary people, almost 400 Iranian Muslim students known as Muslim Students of Imam Khomeini Line stormed the US embassy.

Although embassy guards prevented the students from entering the central building, they climbed up the gates and entered the central building in which all confidential documents of Americans were being kept.

After the students seized the embassy, they found some documents which showed that the US embassy in Iran was not a center for diplomatic affairs, but a cover for the US spying against the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran.

This year, on the verge of Student Day, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received a large number of students. 

Speaking at the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei said the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran by students was a blow by the Iranian nation to Washington.

“The US was disgraced on [November 4, 1979]. This was the blow of the Iranian nation to America,” he said.

He explained that the Americans harmed the Iranian nation on two November 4 occasions, one being in 1964, when they forced Imam Khomeini into exile, and the second being the massacre of students in Tehran in 1978 at the hands of the former Pahlavi regime.

“During the fateful days of the Iranian nation’s revolutionary movement, the Shah’s police slaughtered students right in front of the University [of Tehran],” he noted.

“It was ten months after the victory of the Revolution, [on November 4, 1979], when the students entered the [US] embassy, captured the embassy, and revealed the secrets and confidential documents of that embassy,” the Leader added.

Compiled by Mohaddeseh Pakravan