Juan Cole

Thursday’s march in Tehran was just enormous, several hundred thousand strong. AFP writes, “Many in the huge crowd walked silently and lit black candles as night fell. Others wore green wristbands or ribbons and carried flowers as they filed into Imam Khomeini Square, a large plaza in the heart of the capital named for the […]

This was posted to an email list; since the author says it can be used any way we like if it stays anonymous, I’m putting it up. From a Mousavi supporter in Tehran Again, thanks to all for their messages and support. 1 — Mobile phones are working very intermittently 2 — Sms services have […]

Mir-Hosain Mousavi, who maintains he won last Friday’s presidential election despite official assertions that he lost 2 to 1 to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is calling for another rally Thursday, this time in part to honor the persons killed by hardliners or security forces in the course of previous demonstrations. Mourning the martyr is as central to […]

Mansoor Moaddel, a valued colleague, is a sociologist and an important interpreter of the contemporary Middle East who has done a lot of work with polling and statistics, often finding counter-intuitive results. His response to Ballen and Doherty is therefore authoritative and since some continue to cite that op-ed in support of Ahmadinejad’s claims, I […]

The USG Open Source Center translates articles from the Iranian press on disturbances in Shiraz and Isfahan. I conclude that the protests are not just in Tehran; I’d take the charges of ‘vandalism’ with a grain of salt, but some of the protesters might well be angry and attacking government buildings. A third piece alleges […]

Iran expert Ali Ansari says he expects the protests to continue, saying that Iran is in for a “long hot summer.” Me, I wouldn’t be surprised if the regime rolls tanks and pulls a Tiananmen Square, as I told Neil MacFarquhar of the NYT, whose piece today I thought very perceptive. (Not saying that a […]

Mir-Hosain Mousavi, leader of the reform faction in Iran who maintains that last Friday’s elections was stolen, has rejected as inadequate the government’s offer of a limited recount of ballots. Note that the head of the Guardianship Council, to which this task has been assigned, is Aytatollah Ahmad Jannati, a notorious hard liner and partisan […]

Report on Tuesday’s Demonstration for Mousavi in Tehran from an eyewitness. Again, I was sent this by an academic, but will not give the name to avoid any repercussions for the individual. Today, under slate skies and despite official warnings that the permit to march had been denied, against rumors that orders had been given […]

An eyewitness writes from Tehran an account of Monday’s massive demonstration for Mousavi. I am not including his name because we don’t know how this will turn out and as a historian I have a duty to protect my interviewees, but it is not anonymous. I left my home in Tajrish along with my family […]