Iran Turmoil Continues

James Phillips / June 17, 2009

Despite President Ahmadinejad’s dismissive and arrogant attitude toward the “weeds” that have sprung up to reject his alleged election victory, massive crowds of Iranians continued their protests against his regime for a fifth straight day.

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has backpedaled away from his initial blessing of the election results as a “divine assessment” and now has promised a partial vote recount in an effort to defuse the crisis. This maneuver, which undoubtedly is a subterfuge to drain away support for opposition rallies, is unlikely to result in a fair and free recount of the votes. Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi therefore has criticized it as inadequate and called for further demonstrations. Today he called for a day of mourning to mark the deaths of at least seven demonstrators who were killed by security forces on Monday.

In addition to cracking down on the Iranian people, the regime is expanding its systematic efforts to muzzle the media, both foreign and domestic. The foreign press, which were allowed into Iran to cover the elections, are now being denounced for inciting riots and are being forced out of the country. (more…)