As the meeting between Iran and P5+1 group on Nov. 7-8 in Geneva nears, political forces that oppose the thawing of US-Iran relations bustle with activity. The move in Iran began last week with the sudden outcrop of anti-American posters around Tehran. One of the images showed an Iranian negotiator facing an American negotiator who had a black attack dog by his side. These were promptly replaced by new banners reflecting Rouhani’s outlook for Iran: "We don't oppress and don't allow being oppressed.”

Meanwhile, there will be a gathering inside the former US Embassy compound Nov. 2 under the banner of, “the great conference of 'down with USA.'” A controversial, ultra-conservative speaker, Hassan Abbasi, has been invited as the keynote speaker of this event. This groundswell of explosive opposition began after the official website of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, published a piece from his memoir depicting that Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s revolution leader, supported elimination of the slogan, “Death to America.”

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line daily Kayhan, published an article titled “No U-turn” in which he fiercely attacked Rafsanjani. He accused Rafsanjani of “distorting statements and guidelines [set out]” by Ayatollah Khomeini. Shariatmadari wrote that Rafsanjani’s publication of this memoir was timed, “to support justification for the telephone conversation between Rouhani and Obama, and that they hoped to eliminate the “Death to America” slogan from [our] political culture and belief system of the people.”

Elsewhere, an international contest called “Down With USA Great Award” has been organized. Participants are to submit essays, photographs, and videos in several anti-American categories including, “Why Death to America?” Tens of thousands of dollars are to be awarded to the winning submissions.