"Death to America"[a] is an anti-Americanpolitical slogan widely used in Iran,[1]Afghanistan,[2]Lebanon,[3]Yemen,[4]Iraq,[5][6]Pakistan[7][8] and North Korea (as "Death to the United States imperialists").[b][9][10] Originally used by North Korea since the Korean War,[9][10]Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of Iran, popularized the term.[11] He opposed the chant for radio and television but not for protests and other occasions.[1] The literal meaning of the Persian phrase "Marg bar Âmrikâ" is "Death to America". In most official Iranian translations, the phrase is translated into English as the less crude "Down with America".[12][13] The chant "Death to America" has come to be employed by various anti-American groups and protesters worldwide.[14]
Iranian officials generally explain that the slogan in its historical context has been provoked by the U.S. government's hostile policies towards Iran and expresses outrage at those policies, and does not wish for literal death for American people themselves.[15] In a speech to university students, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei interpreted the slogan as "death to the U.S.'s policies, death to arrogance".[16] Following a meeting with U.S. Army and Air Force commanders, Khamenei declared that the Iranian people are not against American people but that "Death to America" means down with American leaders, in this case Donald Trump (President), John Bolton (National Security Advisor), and Mike Pompeo (Secretary of State).[17][18]
A conference named "Long Live Death to America" held on 3 November 2015, at Tehran University explores historical reasons for chanting the slogan.[19]Two protesters in Iran tearing an American flag at an anti-American rally.
Following the fall of the pro-American Pahlavi dynasty in early 1979, Iranian protesters regularly shouted "Death to America" and "Death to the Shah" outside the U.S. embassy in Tehran, including the day the embassy was seized on 4 November 1979, which commenced the Iran hostage crisis.[20] Throughout the crisis, Iranians surrounding the embassy chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Carter".[21] When Iran released the remaining 52 American hostages on 20 January 1981, they were led through a gauntlet of students forming parallel lines that shouted "Death to America" as they boarded the airplane that would fly them out of Tehran.[22] "Death to the Soviet Union" and "Death to England" also became popular. A similar slogan "Death to Israel" (Persian: مرگ بر اسرائیل) is also used, and regularly chanted in Iranian and Pakistani political rallies.[7] It is the best-known variation;[23] however, the slogan dates back to the 1950s when it was first used by North Korea during the Korean War (known in North Korea as the Fatherland Liberation War) and it is still in use to this day.[9]
Throughout the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the slogan has formed a pillar of its revolutionary values.[12] It is regularly chanted at Friday prayers (jumu'ah) and other public events, which is often accompanied by a burning of the flag of the United States.[13] These events include the 4 November anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure, which Iranian leaders declared in 1987 as a national holiday, called "Death to America Day."[24] State-sponsored murals that feature the slogan "Death to America" are common in Iranian cities, particularly Tehran.[25] According to Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khomeini agreed in principle to drop the usage of the slogan in 1984. Rafsanjani's statement was rejected by his hard line opponents who said that "The Imam throughout his life called America 'the Great Satan'. He believed that all the Muslims' problems were caused by America."[26] According to Politico magazine, following the September 11 attacks, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei "suspended the usual 'Death to America' chants at Friday prayers" temporarily.[27]
On 29 March 2013, during a public gathering in Kim Il Sung Square, Pyongyang, to support Kim Jong Un's call to arms, attendees had chanted "Death to the U.S. imperialists".[10] On 21 March 2015, Khamenei backed and shouted the phrase 'Death to America' while addressing a public gathering in Iran, during the holiday of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.[28][29][30] In a statement published on his website on November 3, 2015, Khamenei said: "It goes without saying that the slogan does not mean death to the American nation; this slogan means death to the U.S.'s policies, death to arrogance."[31][32]
Many anti-Iranian government protesters, both within Iran and abroad, used similar phrases to demonstrate against the theocratic government. Slogans such as "Death to Khamenei", "Death to the Dictator" and "Death to Islamic Republic" have been chanted in those occasions, the latest being the Mahsa Amini protests, which began in September 2022.[38][39] Protesters also refused to trample over giant U.S. and Israeli flags that had been painted on the ground of the universities,[40] which was praised by then-President Trump in 2020.[41] At the funeral of Qasem Soleimani, the chant "Death to America" could be heard from many mourners across Baghdad, Islamabad, Karachi and many other cities.[6][7][8]
At the 2024 Quds Day rally in Dearborn, Michigan, some members of the crowd chanted "death to America" in response to anti-America rhetoric by one of the speakers.[42] The rally organizers later said the chants were "wrongful" and "a mistake."[43]
Supporters of Hezbollah, the Shia Islamic militant group based in Lebanon that is closely aligned to Iran, regularly chant "Death to America" in street demonstrations.[44] A week before the U.S. invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah declared: "In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed, 'Death to America!' Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, 'Death to America!' was, is and will stay our slogan."[3] The slogan of the Houthis, a Shia rebel group in Yemen also supported by Iran,[45] is "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam".[4]
If you go and ask anyone who uses that slogan ... what he is against, it is interference in Iran's policies by overthrowing a nationally elected prime minister at the time of [Mohammad] Mossadegh. For them, what they are against is the kind of government who shoots an airplane full of innocent passengers. For them, it's not the people of America, per se. For them, they are opposed to that sort of policy, that sort of attitude, that sort of arrogance. It's not a nation. It's a system of behavior."[15]
Hussein al Hamran, head of Foreign Relations for Ansar Allah (Houthis), said: "Regarding the words 'Death to America', we mean American politics, not the American people."[46] Ali al-Bukhayti, a former spokesperson and official media face of the Houthis, said: "We do not really want death to anyone. The slogan is simply against the interference of those governments [i.e. US, and Israel]."[47] Rouhani also dismissed the literal interpretation of the slogan, stating that the slogan is to express opposition to US intrusive policies rather than hatred against American people.[48]
On 8 February 2019, Ali Khamenei stated "Death to America means death to [Donald] Trump, [John] Bolton and [Mike] Pompeo. We criticize American politicians who are managing that country. Iranian nation are not against American people."[17] Travel writer Rick Steves recorded a taxi driver in Tehran exclaiming "Death to traffic!" in English, explaining that "when something frustrates us and we have no control over it, this is what we say". Steves compares the phrase to non-literal use of the word damn in American English.[49]
