Regime Pretends it is 1979

Instead of dealing with real problems, the regime unleashes Basij elements to storm the British embassy in a sad attempt to pretend like we are living in 1979. Instead of presenting a positive image of Iran around the world and attempting to improve relations with other countries, the regime resorts to acts of desperation to distract from their own crimes and failures.

Regime Turns on Itself

Not content about suppressing the Iranian people, the regime continues to turn on itself as the conflict between the Ahmadineajd and Khamenei blocs continue. Ahmadinejad advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr humiliated at his own press conference. Here is the full story:


Judicial authorities in Iran have attempted to arrest a close ally of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in what is widely being viewed as the latest twist in the struggle for power at the top of the Iranian regime.

A group of officials raided the offices of the daily government newspaper Iran on Monday in order to arrest Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the president's media adviser. Javanfekr is also the head of the state news agency, Irna.

At the weekend, a court in Tehran had sentenced him to one year in jail and a three-year ban on working for the press after "publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms".

According to the semi-official Mehr news agency, Javanfekr was handcuffed but his arrest was "temporarily halted" after government officials intervened. Mehr did not specify who had stepped into the dispute, but some accounts attributed the intervention to Ahmadinejad.

Javanfekr was reportedly conducting a press conference when the judiciary officials tried to detain him. The conservative website Tabnak said the newspaper's staff gathered in his office and tried to prevent the president's top media aide being led away in handcuffs. The officials used teargas to disperse the staff and arrested about 30 of them.

"The judicial authorities threw teargas and tried to force their way into the [newspaper's] building," Javanfekr told Isna news agency following the incident. "They arrested some of our reporters and took them away and hit one of my colleagues with an electric baton.

"My colleagues were traumatised, some of them were hurt … I'm a representative of the government and the president's adviser … If they had summoned me, I would have gone to them. They did not need to do these kind of actions."

Ahmadinejad fell foul of conservatives with Iran after a series of public confrontations with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate power in Iran.

Since then, the president has lost a degree of influence in Iranian politics, particularly in the parliament and the judiciary which are both under influence of Khamenei.

In the wake of the power struggle, many of Ahmadinejad's supporters have distanced themselves from him, but a handful, including Javanfekr, have stood firm.

Javanfekr was put on trial after the publication of a series of articles about the chador, a garment that Iranian women wear to cover them from head to toe.

In one article, Ahmadinejad's former media adviser, Mehdi Kalhor, criticised the black colour of Iranian chadors, saying they did not originate from the Persian culture but were rather imported from the west.

Javanfekr also gave an interview to an Iranian reformist newspaper, Etemaad, on Saturday which led to its temporary closure for two months.

In the interview, he criticised opponents of the president and supported Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whom the conservatives have accused of revolutionary deviancy and corruption.

In response to one of Etemaad's questions about the recent power struggle, Javanfekr said the president has come "to serve the people" and "will stay till the end, till martyrdom".

He also criticised the judiciary for arresting Ahmadinejad's allies in recent months and shed light on some of the unseen dimensions of Iran's internal power struggle.

The parliamentary elections in March 2012 and presidential vote in 2013 have escalated the rift between Ahmadinejad and his supporters on one side and the conservatives close to Khamenei on the other side, fighting with each other for more influence over Iranian politics.

Mohammad Javad Larijani Goes on Lying Tour

Mohammad Javad Larijani, part of the crazy Larijani brothers, is on a lying tour at the UN making himself look like a fool. At a press conference, Larijani denied Mousavi and Karroubi are under house arrest:

“Well, nobody is in house arrest without trial and without court order. Incitement to violence is a major cause against them, and this is quite apparent for everybody.” Larijani added that the details of Mousavi’s and Karroubi’s charges will come out once court proceedings begin and noted that they were also charged with other “illegal activities,” which he did not name.

Numerous human rights groups and family members say that Mousavi and Karroubi are under house arrest. The saddest part of this whole thing is that Larijani is head of the High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His allegience should be to the Iranian people and defending their human rights as opposed to his brothers the head of the judiciary and head of the parliament.

Under Article 33 of the Iranian constitution, "No one can be banished from his place of residence, prevented from residing in the place of his choice, or compelled to reside in a given locality, except in cases provided by law." Also under Article 37, "Innocence is to be presumed, and no one is to be held guilty of a charge unless his or her guilt has been established by a competent court."

Mousavi and Karroubi have never been charged with a crime and have not been in a court room to even here charges against them. According to the constitution Larijani is supposed to uphold, they are to be treated as innocent until proven guilty and not treated as criminals.

Can Syria Bring Down the Iranian Regime

Everyday Syria is moving closer and closer to Civil War. As the Iranian regime backs Assad in his brutal suppression of his people, more and more members of his security state are defecting to the Free Syrian Army. The Arab League has suspended Syria and will put in place sanctions in coming days if the situation does not improve. All this indicates that the regime change train has left the station and there is no turning back for Assad and his thugs.

The Iranian regime seems to be realizing this and seems to be trying to hedge its bet for a Syria after Assad. The question turns to how does the current uprising in Syria effect the Iranian regime and can it help bring it down. The regime has already been greatly strategically hurt as its closet ally in the Middle East is in total chaos and there is nothing anyone can do to change that.

Those in power in Tehran are watching carefully to see what will happen and must wonder if they are next. If the Iranian people take inspiration from those in Syria and the rest of the Arab world, I think significant change is on the horizon in Iran. With things simmering underneath the surface in Iran, a major event such as the down fall of the Assad regime could be enough to also bring down its main supporter.

Karroubi Suffering Health Problems

After months of illegal detention, Mehdi Karroubi is suffering respiratory problems. This is how the regime treats an elederly cleric so let's hope for his speedy recovery. More here:

As previously communicated to our dear compatriots, security forces rejected the idea of our father being transferred to our house in Jamaran and instead detained him in a small business apartment for a period of 100 days, in the company of a number of security agents, without access to fresh air. Upon numerous requests by the family and in particular by our honorable mother, on Tuesday of last week, an agreement was finally reached to transfer my father to a house in one of the neighborhoods in Shemiran. According to the contract signed, one of the three units was made available to our father. Our family has agreed to pay a portion of the rent and the other portion will be paid by the Ministry of Intelligence given that their security agents will be deployed at the premises. Following the preparatory work, our father was transferred to this new location and the security officials also stated that our mother would be allowed to return to house arrest to be near our father. However, after our mother left today, we were informed that the security officials had not allowed her to stay with our father and they now insist that he remains in house arrest alone for an indefinite period of time.

Our mother confirmed today that Mr. Karroubi is suffering from respiratory problems as a result of lack of access to fresh air in the past 100 days. He is currently on medication prescribed by the physician of the Ministry of Intelligence. My mother reiterated that despite his ailing physical condition, our father remains in excellent spirits and he firmly stands behind the promise he made to the Iranian nation.

Mehdi Karroubi continues to be denied the basic rights afforded all prisoners in Iran, including access to newspapers, regular visitation with family members, the right to make phone calls, etc... Any access to fresh air, even after this recent transfer to a new location is only limited to inside the apartment in which he is being held. The truth is the manner in which our father has been treated in the past 9 months has been extremely contradictory and unconventionally strict. The fact that he has been deprived from being detained in his own house, has been forced to move to a new location without access to his family, coupled with the extreme efforts taken to ensure that he is isolated have greatly increased the family's concern regarding his well being. We expect the ruling government to clarify as soon as possible the scope and duration of this innovative form of arrest , the various aspects of which will surely be recorded in history.

همانطور که پیشتر به اطلاع هموطنان عزیز و علاقمندان رساندیم نیروهای امنیتی با انتقال پدر به منزل مسکونی شان در جماران موافقت نکردند و به اعمال حبس ۱۰۰ روزه در آپارتمانی اداری و کوچک بدون دسترسی به هوای آزاد و در کنار تعدادی از ماموران امنیتی مبادرت ورزیدند. بدنبال پیگیری های مکرر خانواده بویژه مادر بزرگوارم سه شنبه هفته گذشته قرارداد اجاره منزل مسکونی در یکی از محله های شمیران جهت گذراندن دوران حبس منعقد شد. بر اساس این قرارداد یک واحد از سه واحد استیجاری در اختیار پدر قرار گرفت. خانواده متعهد به پرداخت بخشی از مال الاجاره شد و بخش دیگر را وزارت اطلاعات بابت حضور نیروهایش بر عهده گرفت. بعد از فراهم شدن مقدمات، پدر به مکان جدید منتقل شد و مقامات امنیتی اجازه بازگشت مادر را به حبس دادند. بدنبال خروج امروز مادر مطلع شدیم که مقامات امنیتی اجازه ماندن وی در کنار پدر را نمی دهند و اصرار دارند آقای کروبی الباقی زمان نامعلوم حبس را به تنهایی بگذراند.ا

مادرم تاکید کردند وضعیت تنفسی آقای کروبی بدلیل شرائط نامساعد و عدم دسترسی به هوای آزاد در ۱۰۰ روز گذشته دچار مشکلاتی شده است که در حال حاضر ایشان از داروهای تجویز شده پزشک وزارت اطلاعات استفاده می کنند. ایشان همچنین اضافه کردند که بر خلاف ورود آسیب های جسمی، روحیه آقای کروبی نسبت به مسیر انتخاب شده و عهد خود با مردم بسیار عالی و کم نظیر است.ا

کروبی کما فی السابق از حقوق اولیه یک زندانی مانند حق دسترسی به روزنامه، ملاقات منظم با نزدیکان، تلفن و … برخوردار نمی باشد. هوا خوری ایشان بعد از انتقال تنها در محدوده آپارتمان مجاز شمرده شده است. حقیقت این است که در ۹ ماه گذشته شاهد رفتار متناقض و سختگیری های غیر متعارف نسبت به پدر بوده ایم. محرومیت از حبس در منزل خود و تحمیل مکان دیگر به خانواده و تلاش در جهت تنها نگاه داشتن کروبی نگرانی خانواده را دوچندان کرده است. از حاکمیت انتظار داریم دایره و قلمرو این حصر ابداعی که ابعاد مختلف آن در تاریخ این کشور ماندگار خواهد شد را هر چه سریعتر مشخص کند.ا

Does the Regime Want War?

The publication of findings by the IAEA in the coming days which mostly like point to progress towards weponization of Iran's nuclear program as well as recent statements by Israeli officials have made the prospect of war dangerously real. This comes after heightened tension between Iran and the United States over an alleged assassination plot of the Saudi Ambassador. It seems that the regime in Iran is spiraling towards war with Israel that could drag the United States and other countries in.

In the first instance, those in power in Iran have to be criticized for taking the country to the brink of war and making enemies for the nation. It is clear that the regime actually would welcome a war since it will cause people to rally around the flag and create a distraction to the crimes they are committing inside the country. So we have to keep in mind that the regime actively wants a war to come and we have to be weary not to fall in their trap.

The regime's closest ally in the region, Syria, is on the brink of full scale civil war as the criminal Assad regime has lost more and more legitimacy with its people. The sanctions put in place by the international community have hurt the Iranian economy and have made life even more difficult for those in power. Domestic opposition is as pervasive and wide spread as ever, but is only kept from spilling in the streets at the point of a gun. Within the regime, those in power are fighting among themselves with strong divisions between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. These factors make it clear that the regime's days are numbered and it will collapse sooner or later outside any major developments.

That is why the specter of war is so dangerous and throws a dangerous dynamic into the situation. We must recognize that those in power are doing all in their power to welcome war so that they can shore up their position. They know that Israel cannot and the United States will not commit to ground operations in Iran, but instead any war will be limited to air strikes. The regime is gambling that it can endure these strikes and come out stronger on the other end because it has shored up its domestic situation.

The protests of 2009 scared the regime because it saw how much support it has lost among the Iranian people. We should not ignore the prospect that the regime is on the path to cause other countries attack Iran so that its own domestic situation will become stronger. So before a military strike is take on Iran, we must remember that it may strengthen the very regime that it is targeting.

Secretary Clinton Interview with Parazit

Khamenei Wants to Destroy Islamic Republic

If making the presidency meaningless by allowing fraudulent elections wasn't enough, Khamenei now suggests that the post of President should be abolished. Of course the office of President is part of the Constitution and was meant to give the people an elected representative to counter the unelected Supreme Leader. Perhaps Khamenei is worried what will happen in 2013 when Presidential elections are supposed to take place and if he can get away with rigging another election.

What is most hypocritical about this whole proposal is the fact that Khamenei does not even respect the system that he helped create. After all Khamenei was President for 8 years in 1980s and now he is proposing getting rid of the office when he is not the one who holds it. Hopefully the people who still support this regime will see that it is no longer the Islamic Republic of Iran, but rather a military dictatorship of the few for their own benefit. The Islamic Republic is being destroyed everyday and those who are now in charge are now digging their own grave by removing the will of the people from the government.

Here is more about Khamenei's proposed changes:

A proposal by Iran’s supreme leader to radically alter the country’s constitution and abolish the presidency is drawing praise from his supporters but criticism from influential politicians.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader for life in 1989 by Shiite Muslim clerics, said in a speech last week that, if deemed appropriate, Iran could do without a president. The post is currently held by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose 2009 reelection was disputed by opponents and led to months of street protests.

Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said publicly Tuesday that the proposal strongly undermines the ideal of an Islamic republic, in which the people elect their leaders.

Ahmadinejad, for his part, said in a speech Tuesday in the eastern city of Birjand, “We will not respond but know that the nation is awake.” He was vague on whether he was specifically addressing the proposal to eliminate his position.

Ahmadinejad stressed that no one should have problems with “the people” and said that “if the time comes that anyone wants to block them from progressing, they will remove him in two seconds,” the Fararu Web site wrote.

Under the proposal, Iran would be ruled by Khamenei working in tandem with parliament, which would continue to be directly elected and would appoint one of its members to serve as prime minister.

Such a change could happen in the “near or distant future,” Khamenei said. The last time Iran’s constitution was altered was in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic and its first supreme leader. The position of prime minister was abolished at that time.

If implemented, the change would widen Khamenei’s powers. Supporters said it would allow him manage the nation without the current debilitating political squabbles and that nothing would really change, since voters would still elect the parliament.

“Our [supreme] leadership is the only unchangeable part of our system,” Mohammad Dehgan, an influential lawmaker, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency on Monday. “Our presidential system in its current form is not effective,” he added, citing the political infighting.

While the supreme leader in theory has the final say over all state and religious matters in Iran, in practice he has ruled by consensus. However, he increasingly has stepped into political feuds recently and no longer actively supports Ahmadinejad.

The two men had a public falling out in April, when Ahmadinejad forced then-Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi to resign. That prompted Khamenei to reinstate Moslehi — a Shiite cleric and Khamenei protege — and effectively ended the supreme leader’s support for Ahmadinejad.

Under Iran’s system, the supreme leader is more powerful than the president and appoints the commanders of the armed forces, the chief judge and prosecutor and a number of other key officials. He is elected — and can be removed — by the Assembly of Experts, an 86-member council of Islamic scholars. The supreme leader also has the power to dismiss the president if the holder of that office is impeached by parliament or convicted by the supreme court of violating constitutional duties.

But any effort to remove Ahmadinejad would be politically costly, analysts said. Instead, supporters of Khamenei, 72, are trying to hamstring Ahmadinejad until his term ends in 2013. Among other things, they are reluctant to allow the president to speak live on state television.

The strongest criticism of Khamenei’s proposal came from Rafsanjani, 77, a cleric who served as president from 1989 to 1997 and was long considered the No. 2 figure in Iran’s political system. In an interview published Tuesday in the Shargh newspaper, which is critical of the government, he warned that the plan would limit “people’s influence.” He said he was sure that this was “not what the leader intends.”

Rafsanjani, who was purged after he supported political reformists following the 2009 election protests, rarely speaks out directly against the supreme leader.

“I do not admire the bad management of the country,” he told young journalists in the Shargh interview.

Mostafa Tajzadeh Letter to Khamenei

Mostafa Tajzadeh has been imprisoned unjustly for over 2 years for being against the regime. He has written a letter to Khamenei to remind him of the ideals the Islamic Republic supposedly believes in. Here is the letter:

With all due respect, I write you this letter not because I wish to complain about the oppression and crimes committed against my friends and I, nor do I hope or expect to change your position and perspective regarding the affairs of our country or warn you about the current path our country is on. These matters have been brought to your attention, although to no avail, both directly and indirectly over the recent years by many a great individuals whose intelligence, experience, and integrity cannot be denied. As for us, we have made a covenant with our God and we continue on this journey trusting his judgment and putting ourselves in his all knowing hands. We have no expectations of kindness whatsoever of any of God’s creations.

My intent in writing you this letter is to remind you of the ideals and principles that were once considered one of the most fundamental and sacred principles of our movement, principles that are unfortunately ignored today. Our revolution did not claim to have a message for the world regarding developments in science and technology, nor did it seek to speak of democracy or freedom of speech, for many a great nations have taken significant steps in this regard and their vast experience in this area was a great asset to us and our revolution. What set our revolution apart from revolutions that took place in other parts of the world was its spiritual and moral message to humanity, in a world that is focused on consumption and materialism. It was this message that attracted the world’s attention to a religious revolution and the leadership of a spiritual man [Ayatollah Khomeini].

Regardless of whether or not the revolution was successful in conveying this message in the first decade after its inception or the subsequent decades since --- and there is much room for discussion and criticism of how effectively this message was conveyed --- there is no doubt that this issue was very close to the heart of the late Imam Khomeini. In his letter to [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev, he did not encourage him to transition from Marxism to democracy and freedom, for that is a path that humanity is inevitably taking today.

The Imam’s intentions with his letter to Gorbachev as noted in his meeting with Eduard Shevardnadze was to open the doors to the heavens above to Mr. Gorbachev. That letter had only one message, to convey that the challenge did not lie in Gorbachev’s support of Marxism and was much deeper than his support of dictatorship or denial of basic rights and liberties, but rather his denial of morality, spirituality and divine laws. The Imam was warning Gorbachev to avoid falling into the trap of the material world and becoming a slave to consumerism, avoiding the same mistakes made by capitalistic societies in the West.

Ayatollah Khamenei,

Today we are witnessing the uprising of one Muslim nation after another, standing up against tyranny and humiliation, overthrowing dictatorial regimes in their quest to experience a new world and a better life. If their goal is to pursue science and technology and the further development of their country and their personal financial well-being, then without a doubt, given the current inflation, unemployment rate, zero growth in GDP and declining economic conditions, all a direct result of the mismanagement, incompetence and inefficiencies of the current ruling government, it is best if you and I recommend that they not use Iran’s current model as one to emulate!

If their goal on the other hand, is to adhere to a high standard of ethics and spirituality, qualities that were integral to the message of our revolution and distinguished it from all other revolutions, as the leader of the Islamic Republic, are you able to provide them with any tangible and practical examples of such achievements by the regime? Do you plan to point them to the lies, deception and most significant corruption in the history of our nation? Or will you speak of the generosity and humanity that government officials have shown towards our citizens?

Honourable leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,

We had always read and also heard from the authorities that the regime and Islamic rulers are responsible for ensuring the security of the families of political prisoners. Although this important principle was never implemented during the years of the revolution, nevertheless in the past we could have never imagined that the Islamic Republic would accuse citizens of providing financial support to the families of political prisoners, let alone arrest them and send them behind bars to the dark and damp cells of solitary confinement for long periods of time. It would have never occurred to us in our wildest dreams that the homes of the families of political prisoners would be raided by security forces as a result of holding Eftar ceremonies, their security threatened and their wives and children arrested during the holy month of Ramadan. We never imagined that the regime would put such emphasis on premeditated reactions, systematically arresting their critics and opponents, rendering them incapable of earning a living and in doing so depriving their loved ones of food and their livelihood. Iran’s Attorney General has explicitly stated that he was unaware of Mr. Khavari’s dual citizenship and the fact that his family lives in Canada [Mahmoud Reza Khavari, Managing Director of Iran's Bank Melli, reportedly resigned and fled to Canada after the recent £2.6 billion bank fraud.]

Undoubtedly, the security agents were also in the dark regarding Mr. Khavari, even though they are aware of every single detail regarding the private lives of the families of political prisoners in Iran, even going as far as threatening our citizens and intimidating and preventing their children from getting married. We never imagined that morality and humanity in our country would digress to such a degree that children would be deprived of a right to an education in Iran and abroad as a result of the activities and efforts of their fathers, let alone fathom the idea that their personal lives and future would be put in the hands of interrogators and security agents. We never dreamed that humanity and dignity would be ignored so such a degree in our country that the children of political prisoners, fearful of being banned from leaving the country and as such deprived of an education, would not dare to travel to their mother’s country, and mothers would also be banned from leaving the country as a result of the activities of their husbands and as a result be deprived of seeing their children who live abroad.

Proponents of velayat-e-faqih in Iran [clerical supremacy] in support of this doctrine argue that in order to execute the will of God, one requires power. Is cutting off the financial means of critics and proponents, pressuring their families and depriving their children of basic human rights such as the right to an education, the divine limits upon which velayat-e-faqih was established in Iran?

Ayatollah Khamenei,

You undoubtedly remember as well as I do that when Mr. Bani Sadr [former President Abolhassan Bani Sadr] went into hiding before leaving the country, his family was arrested based on the orders of one of the judicial authorities so that he would be forced to turn himself in. At the time, the late Ayatollah Beheshti was very disturbed when he heard of this news and in addition to making sure that the judicial authority in question was punished, he ordered the immediate release of Bani Sadr’s family. Mr. Bani Sadr, subsequently fled the country and his family who were also not banned from leaving the country eventually joined him, so that I would be in a position to proudly recount this story today as a beautiful example and remind your excellency of the lost humanity, morality, spirituality in our nation.

The honorable Supreme Leader (Vali Faqih),

Iam neither associated with Mr. Bani Sadr, nor have I participated in any uprising against the regime with the likes of the MKO [the insurgent organisation Mujahedin-e-Khalq]. Fortunately, because I was arrested immediately after the elections, it is difficult at best to attribute imaginary charges such as conducting a velvet revolution, launching protests, and encouraging people to participate in anarchy and chaos to me. I have fortunately also not fled the country, but rather remain behind bars in your prison. Explain then why my wife who has done nothing but protest my arrest and incarceration, writing letters to her husband on her web blog, should be arrested in plain daylight, accosted by security agents and transferred to solitary confinement? Explain why she has now also been put on trial because she spoke out against the injustices imposed on her husband?

Our master Imam Ali once addressed those who viewed him as an infidel, stating that the following three rights will be respected with regards to them: 1) We will not deprive you of public funds, 2) We will not prevent you from entering a mosque in order to pray and 3) We will not fight with you unless you start the fight.

But the officials following your orders have deprived Shiites and their families and children of not only the nation’s public funds, but also of their jobs and a right to an education, only because they protested against the injustices committed against them. They are arrested and put on trial only because they dared to hold prayer services, asking God for the release of their husbands and those who sought to help them financially have been sent to solitary confinement.

Honourable leader of the Islamic Republic,

I have been in prison for approximately 2 1/2 years. During this time because I published my opinions regarding the challenges facing our nation in a completely legal manner, I have been illegally held in solitary confinement. My intention in writing this letter as previously stated is not to complain, nor do I expect you to address the oppression that is inflicted on your behalf. I only ask you one question. According to what moral criteria do the judicial authorities under your Excellency have the right to arrest my wife and put her on trial in an effort to pressure me and silence me from expressing my opinions with regards to the matters that concern our nation?

I do not worry about my wife being accused or arrested. Sentencing her will not prevent me from expressing my opinions regarding the matters that concern our nation. I have no doubt that my partner in life views this oppression and injustice as the continuation of a price we both chose to pay. My daughters also have a God who is kind, compassionate and holy on their side. I keep thinking about the fate of a regime that is on such a downward spiritual and moral spiral and the heavy price that our citizens will have to pay. All I know is that what is being practiced today in the name of religion and a religious state has no relation what so ever to religion and the authorities responsible for such acts have no relation with God or religion.

On Non-Violent Resistance

Lately I have been thinking about the merits and draw backs of non-violent resistance in bringing change to regimes across the Middle East. Clearly in Libya, violence towards the oppressor by the oppressed has brought about regime change. In Syria and Yemen, violence on all sides seems to be spiraling to more and more death with no end in sight.

In Iran, for both practical and philosophical reasons I believe the use of violence would not ultimately achieve the goal of getting rid of the regime. Some sort of violent civil war would create an opening for outsiders to come in which only strengthen the current regime. Moreover the large Revolutionary Guard corp is fiercely loyal to the regime and would be unlikely to defect meaning the regime would always have a hardened fighting corp at its disposal.

If violence cannot practically solve the problem, then I believe that continued non-violent resistance is the best option. Yet I also believe that we must also cleanse our hearts of anger if this type of action is successful. Mousavi following in the tradition of King and Gandhi has said that we must love our enemies in order to change them. Ultimately even the worst in the regime are still our fellow Iranians that we would not want to kill.

Given the immense power of the regime, the only hope to bring about change is to make those in the regime realize that they too our suffering under their own brutality. If we can slowly show them the light, then the Iran we create can include all Iranians. We must love even the worst in the regime because they are our brothers and sisters even if they do not love us back.

This is the way forward not just in Iran, but I believe in many places where the people face overwhelming disparates in power. The Palestinian must learn to love the Israeli brothers because both are suffering under the weight of oppression. Maybe it is naive to think that this can truly bring about change, but I believe that it is the only way forward in Iran and other places that are suffering under the weight of oppression.