(RFE/RL) | March 21, 2010 By Abbas Djavadi Maryam had invited her two daughters and their husbands and grandchildren for Norouz, the New Year’s feast, to her home in western Tehran when I called her on Saturday. It was after 9:02 p.m. when “tahvil,” the change from the old to the new year, 1389 after [...]
Iranians Defy a Ban in a Display of Dissent
(The New York Times) | March 16, 2010 by Nazila Fathi Iranians defied a ban on events marking a traditional festival on Tuesday, turning an annual celebration into a show of antigovernment sentiment. Also Tuesday, the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi appeared to challenge the authority of the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by [...]
Regime Seeks to Appoint New “Grand Ayatollahs”
(Rooz Online) November 20, 2009 By Ali Farokhi Following the escalation of protests by Iran’s senior ayatollahs against the regime, some members of the Qom Seminary Teachers Association (the most important organization of clerics affiliated with the regime) are planning to present a new list of “grand ayatollahs” under the supervision of Mohammad Yazdi, Ahmad [...]
The dust of dissent can still choke this regime
On the surface, “order” has been enforced. But only on the surface. Inside Iran, public anger still burns, flaring up wherever opportunity presents. At the core of the Islamic regime, a struggle has been unleashed that — by stepping off his pedestal into the thick of the fray — the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has lost his once- undisputed power to bring under control. Far from subsiding, dissent is shaking the regime to its roots.
Senior Cleric Says Leaders Of Iran Are Unfit to Rule
“In my estimate this is the strongest criticism ever of the supreme leader,” said Rasool Nafisi, a United States-based academic and Iran expert. “Although it doesn’t mention Ayatollah Khamenei by name, it is clear he is referring to him.”









