New Clashes Test Iranian Regime’s Grip on Tehran

(Online Newshour | 28 December 2009) – In the wake of weekend protests in Iran that left at least eight people dead, Margaret Warner speaks with a pair of experts about the enduring opposition movement.

Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian-American Council, a nonpartisan organization promoting Iranian-American participation in U.S. civic life. And Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Could the Mullahs Fall This Time?

As protesters poured into the streets of Iran in the biggest and bloodiest demonstrations since June, Trita and Rouzbeh Parsi say this time could be the breaking point.

(Trita Parsi & Rouzebeh Parsi | The Daily Beast | 27 December 2009) – With the government growing increasingly desperate—and violent—the new clashes on the streets in Iran may very well prove to be the breaking point of the regime. If so, it shows that the Iranian theocracy ultimately fell on its own sword. It didn’t come to an end due to the efforts of exiled opposition groups or the regime-change schemes of Washington’s neoconservatives. Rather, the Iranian people are the main characters in this drama, using the very same symbols that brought the Islamic republic into being to close this chapter in a century-old struggle for democracy. Read the rest of this entry »

Cleric Says ‘Crisis’ Has Caused Loss of Public Trust

By ROBERT F. WORTH and ALAN COWELL

Published in the New York Times on  July 17, 2009

BEIRUT, Lebanon — As thousands of opposition protesters chanted in the streets of Tehran on Friday, the former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani assailed the government’s handling of the post-election unrest, saying it had lost the trust of many Iranians and calling for the release of hundreds of protesters and democracy advocates arrested in recent weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

Tehran’s streets erupt after a key cleric speaks

Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s harsh rebuke of Ahmadinejad supporters is followed by renewed violence, suggesting the discontent over recent election results is as strong as ever.

AP Video of July 17 Protests (Click image to see video)

By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim in the Los Angeles Times July 17, 2009 (9:24 AM PDT)

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut — Security forces fired tear gas and plainclothes militiamen armed with batons charged at crowds of protesters gathered near Tehran University after a Friday prayer sermon delivered by the cleric and opposition supporter Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, his first appearance at the nation’s weekly keynote sermon since before the election. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran Protesters Take to Streets Despite Threats

Marchers shouted slogans Thursday and made victory signs in Tehran, where protests were called to commemorate 1999 clashes between students and the police. For more photos, click on image. (Photo: European Pressphoto Agency)

By Michael Slackman, published in the New York Times on July 9, 2009

CAIRO — Thousands of Iranians poured into the streets of Tehran on Thursday, clapping, chanting, almost mocking the authorities as they once again turned out in large numbers in defiance of the government’s threat to crush their protests with violence. Read the rest of this entry »

18th of Tir Videos

A Comprehensive Collection of Videos for the July 9, 2009 Protests

For a comprehensive collection of videos for the July 9th, 2009 protests, please click here.

Hundreds protest in Iran, defying crackdown vow

By NASSER KARIMI – July 9, 2009 (3:45 AM EDT)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hundreds of young men and women chanted “death to the dictator” and fled baton-wielding police in the capital Thursday as opposition activists sought to revive street protests despite authorities’ vows to “smash” any new marches. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran Cleric Says British Embassy Staff to Stand Trial

A June 15, 2009, file photo shows Iranian riot policemen standing guard outside the British embassy in Tehran during a protest by supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against European interference in the Islamic Republic's election results. (Photo Atta Kenare AFP/Getty Images)

By ALAN COWELL and STEPHEN CASTLE
Published July 3, 2009 in the New York Times

PARIS — Brushing aside British and European efforts to seek the release of local British Embassy staff members held in Tehran, the Iranian authorities indicated Friday that they planned to put some of them on trial — a move that deepened a diplomatic crisis and could provoke the withdrawal of ambassadors.

Read the rest of this entry »

IRAN:  Women at Forefront of Popular Defiance

By Sara Farhang

Iran is home to one of the most vibrant women’s movements in the region. (Photo credit: faramarz/flickr/creative commons)

TEHRAN, Jun 25, 2009 (IPS) – When tens of thousands of protesters braved the ongoing government crackdown to gather in Tehran’s Baharestan Square in front of the Parliament building Wednesday in response to a call by supporters of Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, they were met with some of the harshest violence seen since Iran’s post-election turmoil erupted nearly two weeks ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Khatami denounces Iran election, arrests

Protesters in Iran walk past a poster of former president Khatami and reform party leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. (Photo: Reuters)

Story posted by Reuters on Wednesday,  July 1, 2009 1:42pm EDT.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Moderate former president Mohammad Khatami criticized the outcome of Iran’s disputed election and called for the release of people arrested since the June 12 vote in a hard-hitting statement on Wednesday.
Read the rest of this entry »