Dozens of supporters of Iraq's main Shi'ite Muslim opposition group stormed the Iraqi embassy in Tehran, tore down pictures of Saddam Hussein and chanted "Death to America" on Friday, witnesses said. The protesters who had gathered for what was billed as a peaceful demonstration outside the embassy, climbed over the walls of the diplomatic mission and entered the building, ransacking it, smashing windows and furniture. Police moved in to disperse people outside the diplomatic villa, including journalists.

After ripping and burning Saddam's portraits, the protesters carried pictures of Ayatollah Mohammad Bakir Hakim, leader of the Iranian-based Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which draws its support from Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

Chanting "Death to Saddam" and "No to Baath party," they also carried banners of the Badr Brigade, SCIRI's armed wing which it says numbers tens of thousands of fighters.

Iran, which has adopted a neutral stance in the war in neighboring Iraq, has not officially reacted to the fall of Baghdad to U.S. invasion troops and the crumbling of Saddam's rule.

But Iran was never a friend of Saddam, whose forces used chemical weapons against Iranian troops during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war in which up to a million soldiers were killed on both sides

Ayatollah Hakim has been living in exile in Iran since 1979. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Wednesday he hoped that SCIRI, which has enjoyed financial and political backing from Iran for years, would play a significant role in government in postwar Iraq.

Shi'ites make up a large proportion of Iraq's 26 million people who include Sunni Muslims, Kurds and Christians.

PHOTO CAPTION

Muslim leaders attend an anti-war rally at the Feizieh religious school in the city of Qom, Iran,78 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Monday, April 7, 2003. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)