Thousands of Iranians held demonstrations on Saturday to mark the 27th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Iranian students.

The demonstrators, including schoolchildren and university students, gathered outside the former U.S. embassy in central Tehran, shouting anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans.

"The Americans should have learned their lesson from the seizure of the 'Den of Spies'," Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel told the rally, referring to the former U.S. embassy.

"But unfortunately, they have not," he said in front of cheering crowds.

Adel said the United States should know that sanctions and threats "will not have any effect on the Iranian nation's will."

The U.S. embassy was stormed by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979 and its personnel were held hostage for 444 days. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran over the embassy takeover and their ties have remained severed ever since.

Source: Xinhua