TEHRAN (AFP) - Thousands of Iranians staged a noisy anti-US rally in central Tehran Wednesday to mark the storming of the American embassy by students 30 years ago. Huge crowds from early morning descended on the former US embassy complex in central Tehran, dubbed the Den of Spies, chanting slogans such as Death to America and Death to Israel, witnesses said. They also smashed up posters they had brought with them of the American Uncle Sam symbol and chanted The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader - a reference to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The crowd was constantly being swelled by people arriving on foot and by bus, witnesses said. At the state-organised rally, influential lawmaker Gholamali Haddadadel criticised the Opposition leaders. I dont know how they (Opposition leaders) are going to answer to the great Iranian nation. They claim they are followers of the revolution but issue statements that are in the interests of Irans enemies, he said in a speech. Haddadadel said the US administration should change its policy towards Irans nuclear energy programme: No one in Iran can make a deal on Irans obvious right to nuclear technology. Wednesdays anniversary, which has turned into a cornerstone of the Islamic regime, marks the capture by students of the US embassy compound on November 4, 1979 - just months after the Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed shah. The students, who took 52 American diplomats hostage and held them for 444 days, said their assault on the Great Satans compound was sparked by Washingtons refusal to hand over the deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom they feared could stage a comeback with American support. Their fears, they said, stemmed from a CIA-backed coup in 1953 which saw the overthrow of Irans nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Leading Iranian dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said meanwhile the capture of the US embassy had been a mistake. .... considering the negative repercussions and the high sensitivity which was created among the American people and which still exists, it was not the right thing to do, Montazeri said in a statement posted on his website.