Iran hard-liners burn US and Israeli flags in Tehran, slam Biden visit

Dozens of Iranian hard-liners rallied at a square in downtown Tehran, burning US and Israeli flags and denouncing President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East

Dozens of Iranian hard-liners rallied on Saturday at a square in downtown Tehran, burning US and Israeli flags and denouncing President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East.

The small crowd also erupted in chants of Death to America" and Death to Israel", typical at anti-American rallies in Iran.

The demonstrators also protested against the normalisation of ties between Israel and several Arab nations that started under the previous US administration.

Biden said at a wider regional summit in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that the US would not walk away from Middle East's security and leave a vacuum that Russia, China or Iran could try and fill.

Separately, Iran announced on Saturday that it was imposing sanctions on 61 Americans, including Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, and John Bolton, the former national security advisor, over their support for foreign-based dissident Iranian groups.

Iran has in recent years imposed several times such symbolic measures on Americans who Tehran says are acting against Iran.

In June, an Iranian court also ordered the US government to pay over USD 4 billion to the families of Iranian nuclear scientists who have been killed in targeted attacks in recent years.