In recent weeks, Mr. Trump blocked citizens of Iran and six other predominantly Muslim nations from visiting the United States, and he singled out the country, calling it “#1 in terror.” His national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, put the country “on notice” this month after it conducted a missile test.
With the increase in tensions, many observers had expected Iranian leaders to take aim at Mr. Trump during rallies celebrating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But on Friday, the stacks of posters handed out by state organizations largely avoided mentions of Mr. Trump. Anti-American slogans, usually printed in English in the past for the international news media to see, were mostly in Persian. Most notably, there were no missiles on display, as had been customary in previous years, to show off Iran’s military capabilities.
There were examples of anti-American sentiment on view, however: A large plastic copy of the American flag was rolled out at the main rally, as was an Israeli flag, forcing those marching to walk over them. One man handed out posters showing Mr. Trump being beaten in the face by an arm with an Iranian flag around it. “Down with U.S.A.,” the accompanying text read.
On social media, an image of an Iranian carrying an effigy of Mr. Trump hanging from a rope made the rounds. Another showed American and Israeli flags being burned.
But given the size of the rally in Tehran, the usual anti-Americanism was much less noticeable than in previous years, one analyst noted.
Source: / nytimes /