Thousands of Iranians burned flags and chanted slogans against Israel and the US today in the largest demonstration in years outside the former US Embassy in Tehran, held as the new hard-line president has stepped up rhetoric against Israel.
More than 10,000 demonstrators, including Iran-Iraq war veterans and high school students, shouted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" in front of the former embassy compound, marking the 26th anniversary of the November 4, 1979 seizure of the embassy by student militants.
A man protests outside the US embassy in Tehran
The demonstration came a week after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel's eradication, saying the country should be "wiped off the map" - comments that caused a flood of international condemnation and criticisms from moderates in Iran that he was needlessly stoking confrontation with the West.
Iran said today it planned to overhaul its diplomatic corps by replacing dozens of ambassadors, a move critics said was designed to reinforce new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tougher foreign policy stance.
The Foreign Ministry denied reports that the diplomatic shake-up, described by Western diplomats and political analysts as the biggest since the 1979 Islamic revolution, was politically motivated.
About 40 per cent of ambassadors were being changed, including those in countries that had been closely involved in negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme. Western states suspect Iran of seeking an atomic bomb but Tehran denies this.
Meanwhile police in Tehran have confirmed that a small bomb was detonated this morning outside the offices of British Airways and oil company British Petroleum in the Iranian capital.
There were originally thought to be two bombs but the Iranian police and a British diplomat said there had only been one blast on the 10th floor of the central Tehran office block.
"One hand-made bomb exploded, it only shattered a few window panes," a police spokesman said.
"There were no casualties," he added.
In London, a spokesman for British Airways said the airline was "clarifying our information" and would respond shortly.