TEHRAN: Iranians chanted “Death to America” and burned the US flag after weekly prayers in Tehran on Friday despite their new president’s outreach to the West.

During prayers Friday in Tehran, the master-of-ceremonies led the crowd into chants of “Death to America” at least twice from the podium. The chant was then repeated several times by a group of worshippers who rallied after the ceremony, burning the US and Israeli flags, as they do almost every week.

However, Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi, a cleric who led the prayers, tried to strike middle ground, saying that America and Iran should “join hands” in a struggle to overcome sanctions that have crippled Iran.