Thousands of angry Iranians take to the streets and try their hand (again) at regime change. The Basij have been deployed to the streets of Iran to prevent an Egyptian-style revolution and it's being reported that at least one protester has been killed. "There are dozens of police and security forces in the Vali-ye Asr Avenue ... they have blocked entrances of metro stations in the area," a witness told the Reuters news agency.
According to The Guardian, the riot police and government-sponsored plainclothes basiji militia used teargas, wielded batons and opened fire to disperse protesters who chanted "death to the dictator", a reference to both Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A reformist website is reporting the phone lines of Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader, have been cut and his house cordoned off by police cars. Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, a fellow opposition leader, have been under house arrest since last week, with Iranian authorities refusing a request by them to stage Monday's rally.
Debkafile is reporting the slogans brandished by the demonstrators in Iran called for Freedom! Death to the Dictator! and "Mobarak, Ben-Ali, novbat-e-Seyyed-Ali!" They were telling Seyyed-Ali aka supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that it was his turn to go after the Egyptian and Tunisian rulers. Another sign read: "Not Gaza, not Lebanon, but Tunis, Egypt and Iran," an expression of contempt for Iran's meddling in Hizballah and Hamas affairs and its cost to the Iranian people. We will see if the Obama administration has learned any lessons from their mistakes in Egypt and Iran.
The United States lost a lot of credibility with our regional allies for their bungling of the Egyptian crisis. The United States needs to do all they can to support the Iranians in their quest for regime change. The State Department and the Obama White House couldn't stay focused during the Egyptian crisis and it is being reported Obama is furious with Secretary of State Clinton for Obama's failure. Let's take a seat, grab an adult beverage and see what transpires this time.
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