Death to America

History

Following the fall of the pro-American Pahlavi dynasty in early 1979, Iranian protesters regularly shouted "Death to America" and "Death to the Shah" outside the U.S. embassy in Tehran, including the day the embassy was seized on 4 November 1979, which commenced the Iran hostage crisis. Throughout the crisis, Iranians surrounding the embassy chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Carter". When Iran released the remaining 52 American hostages on 20 January 1981, they were led through a gauntlet of students forming parallel lines that shouted "Death to America" as they boarded the airplane that would fly them out of Tehran. A similar slogan "Death to Israel" () is also used, and regularly chanted in Iranian and Pakistani political rallies. It is the best-known variation. Travel writer Rick Steves wrote of an encounter with a driver in Iran who said that it is common for Iranians to say "death to" things that annoy them and they cannot control, i.e. traffic; Steves compared it to the use of the word "damn" in phrases like "damn those teenagers".

Throughout the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the slogan has formed a pillar of its revolutionary values. It is regularly chanted at Friday prayers (jumu'ah) and other public events, which is often accompanied by a burning of the flag of the United States. These events include the 4 November anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure, which Iranian leaders declared in 1987 as a national holiday, called "Death to America Day." State-sponsored murals that feature the slogan "Death to America" are common in Iranian cities, particularly Tehran. According to Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khomeini agreed in principle to drop the usage of the slogan in 1984. Rafsanjani's statement was rejected by his hard line opponents who said that "The Imam throughout his life called America 'the Great Satan'. He believed that all the Muslims' problems were caused by America." According to Politico magazine, following the September 11 attacks, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei "suspended the usual 'Death to America' chants at Friday prayers" temporarily.

On 29 March 2013, during a public gathering in Kim Il Sung Square, Pyongyang, North Korea to support Kim Jong Un's call to arms, attendees had chanted "Death to the U.S. imperialists".

On 21 March 2015, Khamenei backed and shouted the phrase 'Death to America' while addressing a public gathering in Iran, during the holiday of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. In a statement published on his website on November 3, 2015, Khamenei said: "It goes without saying that the slogan does not mean death to the American nation; this slogan means death to the U.S.'s policies, death to arrogance."

On 23 June 2017, during Quds Day, protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". On 25 April 2018, Iran announced that a "Death to America" emoji would be included in a domestically produced messaging app. On 9 May 2018, an American flag was burned in the Iranian Parliament amidst chants of "Death to America" after the United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal with Iran) under President Donald Trump. On 4 November 2018, Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the religious group Nation of Islam, led a "Death to America" chant during a solidarity trip to Iran, ahead of sanctions expected to be imposed by the Trump administration.

Many anti-Iranian government protesters, both within Iran and abroad, used similar phrases to demonstrate against the theocratic government. Slogans such as "Death to Khamenei", "Death to the Dictator" and "Death to Islamic Republic" have been chanted in those occasions, the latest being the Mahsa Amini protests, which began in September 2022. Protesters also refused to trample over giant U.S. and Israeli flags that had been painted on the ground of the universities, which was praised by then-President Trump in 2020. At the funeral of Qasem Soleimani, the chant "Death to America" could be heard from many mourners across Baghdad, Islamabad, Karachi and many other cities.

At the 2024 Quds Day rally in Dearborn, Michigan, some members of the crowd chanted "death to America" in response to anti-America rhetoric by one of the speakers. The rally organizers later said the chants were "wrongful" and "a mistake", and Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud said the chants were "unacceptable and contrary to the heart of this city."

Usage in the Arab world

Supporters of Hezbollah, the Shia Islamic militant group based in Lebanon that is closely aligned to Iran, regularly chant "Death to America" in street demonstrations. A week before the U.S. invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah declared: "In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed, 'Death to America!' Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, 'Death to America!' was, is and will stay our slogan."The slogan of the Houthis, a Shia rebel group in Yemen also supported by Iran, is "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam".

Interpretation and meaning

Mohammad Nahavandian, chief of staff for Iranian former president Hassan Rouhani, said:

Hussein al Hamran, head of Foreign Relations for Ansar Allah (Houthis), said: "Regarding the words 'Death to America', we mean American politics, not the American people." Ali al-Bukhayti, a former spokesperson and official media face of the Houthis, said: "We do not really want death to anyone. The slogan is simply against the interference of those governments [i.e. US, and Israel]." Rouhani also dismissed the literal interpretation of the slogan, stating that the slogan is to express opposition to US intrusive policies rather than hatred against American people.

On 8 February 2019, Ali Khamenei stated "Death to America means death to [Donald] Trump, [John] Bolton and [Mike] Pompeo. We criticize American politicians who are managing that country. Iranian nation are not against American people." Travel writer Rick Steves recorded a taxi driver in Tehran exclaiming "Death to traffic!" in English, explaining that "when something frustrates us and we have no control over it, this is what we say". Steves compares the phrase to non-literal use of the word damn in American English.

Notes

References

References

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