Supreme Leader

More seriously now. In Iran there’s something called an Assembly of Experts, a clerical body charged with electing the Supreme Leader and ensuring that he holds true to the finest Islamic traditions. One such expert, Ahmed Khatami, has a few suggestions for how the regime ought to treat the protesters who today plan on releasing [...]

As best I can piece together this morning, the Iranian regime’s crackdown is halting the momentum of the opposition. Andrew says he can find no sign of today’s planned rally. No idea about the general strike. The New York Times, however, reports:
… at least three Iranian newspapers reported that of 290 members of the Iranian [...]

Huge piece from Barbara Slavin of The Washington Times. Before the June 12 election, President Obama wrote a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, delivered through the United States’ cut-out in the Swiss embassy in Tehran, about possible ways to reduce U.S.-Iranian tensions:
An Iranian with knowledge of the overture, however, told The Washington [...]

After a day of horrific violence in Iran, Mir Hussein Moussavi issued this statement to the opposition and to the world. (Via Andrew.) The most compelling description of the relationship between Moussavi and fellow presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi to the opposition is that they’re the vehicles for it, rather than acting as its leaders. While [...]

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking at Tehran University for Friday prayers, says the elections are fair and the protests have gone far enough. According to this translation, there’s the predictable stuff about “Zionist, American [and] British” interloping, and he called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the “legal president” who is “trusted by people. ” And [...]