Iran’s Supreme Leader says on the eve of the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that the Islamic Republic is the “victorious party” after nearly 40 years of confrontation by the U.S.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that despite military, economic and propaganda wars waged by the U.S. against Iran over the last four decades, “the U.S. is the defeated side and the Islamic Republic is the victorious party.”

Militant Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy on Nov. 4, 1979 and took 52 American diplomats hostages for 444 days.

Khamenei said the U.S. has failed to dominate Iran in the way it did before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted a pro-Western monarchy. He says the U.S. is weaker than it was in 1979.

(AP)