The Moment

摘要

The 30th anniversary of the U.S.-Embassy takeover got offrnto its expected start: thousands of demons trators were bused in to shout the usual slogans in front of the building now knownrnas the Den of Spies. But in a square not far away, hundreds gathered to protest the government itself, clashing with police and dodging tear gas. Thirty years after Iranian students took 53 Americans hostage, U.S.-Iran relations are nearing another nadir: Tehran has blamed its unrest on Western meddling, and October's U.N.-brokered deal to reduce Iran's nuclear stockpile appears to be collapsing. Yet many Iranians no longer buy their leaders' anti-American orthodoxy. While the Nov. 4 displays of defiance were not as large as June's protests over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the persistence of such demonstrations is proof that much has changed since the Islamic revolution.