Iran on the Brink
Protesters are attempting to gather in Tehran despite a violent crackdown by police attacking with tear gas and firing shots in the air. Iran's Guardian Council is admitting election fraud in at least 50 cities, but downplaying its importance in the outcome. Neda, the young woman whose violent death has become a rallying cry for the revolution, is being mourned today. The Daily Beast provides interviews, photos, and reporting from the streets of Tehran.
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Shocking updates from Iran: The Iranian military is charging a "bullet fee" to the families of slain protesters who want to collect bodies for burial, according to the Wall Street Journal. There are rumors of a general strike Tuesday, and Iran's government is setting up a special court to try protesters arrested in violent post-election demonstrations, an official announced on state TV. Meanwhile, protesters attempted to gather in Tehran to mourn the death of Neda, the young woman whose violent death has become a rallying cry for the revolution. The mourners were met with a violent crackdown by police attacking with tear gas and firing shots in the air. The Daily Beast provides interviews, photos, and reporting from the streets of Tehran.
The Crisis in Iran Is Just Beginningby Gary Sick
Gary Sick, the key White House official during the 1979 hostage crisis, says this revolution may be more of a marathon than a sprint, with no clear winner or loser. The watchword for Obama: Do no harm.
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How Neda Divided My Familyby Telmah Parsa
Not everyone believes the shocking video of a woman shot in Tehran. Telmah Parsa writes from Iran on why many Iranians—including his mother—refuse to accept the horrific video tells the whole truth.
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Click Below for Photos of the Deadly Protests
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Iran's Supreme Revolutionaryby Reza Aslan
By inexplicably inserting himself into the election controversy, Ayatollah Khamenei is destroying his reputation and tainting himself with an aura of corruption, Reza Aslan writes. Worse, he’s unwittingly turning a protest into a revolution.
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Explosive Protest and Police Brutality Videos from Iranby The Daily Beast Video
The Iranian government may have banned foreign journalists from covering protests, but that hasn’t stopped a flood of user-generated videos—many quite disturbing—from hitting the Internet.
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Mousavi's New Revolutionary Manifestoby Gary Sick
The Iranian protest movement reached a tipping point today, writes Gary Sick, the key White House offical during the 1979 hostage crisis, and what has emerged is nothing short of a platform for a true Islamic democracy.
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Exclusive Tehran Account: Rejoicing Rafsanjani's Daughter's Releaseby Parvez Sharma
In his second online chat with Tehran photojournalist NS, Parvez Sharma witnesses Iran media breaking news on the release of former Iran President Rafsanjani’s daughter. NS details another brutal attack on a loved one during a protest—a male photographer attacked with large Ghameh knife, a weapon traditionally used during the Shia mourning ritual of Muharram. NS also finds a video with the title “Basiji beats 7 year old boy Tehran Iran” but can’t watch it—her access to YouTube is blocked.
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Leave Iran to the Iraniansby Leslie Gelb
As experts clash on how to deal with Iran’s turmoil, Leslie H. Gelb says Obama is right to keep his distance—this is what Iranians want, and they have smart, sophisticated reasons for it.
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Memo from the Streets of Tehran, Part IIIby Parvez Sharma
Arash Aryan has not been silent or quiet. He has been on the streets and with a power and poignancy that is now becoming familiar. Parvez Sharma presents his latest report from Tehran, today on the day everything might have changed.
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Stay Out Of It, Obamaby Benjamin Sarlin & Roja Heydarpour
Critics have urged Obama to "go green," to side with Iranian protestors more vocally. But in an exclusive interview, one of Iran's most high-profile opposition clerics, Mohsen Kadivar, tells The Daily Beast that the reformers don't want any help. He also says the protests are about the presidential election, not about overthrowing the Ayatollah.
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Marked for Death by Twitterby Eric Pape
Social-networking sites are being celebrated as conduits for information out of Iran. But with the supreme leader vowing to punish dissidents, these digital footprints could prove deadly.
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Exclusive Eyewitness Account: "My Brother Was Beaten"by Parvez Sharma
As violence flares in Tehran, The Daily Beast's Parvez Sharma spoke over Yahoo! Chat with a young Iranian journalist and Mousavi supporter who says she was arrested at the protests today and released. She describes the fresh violence--including a family member who was beaten, and shares extremely graphic video of a young women who was shot.
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Memo From the Streets of Tehran, Part IIby Parvez Sharma
As demonstrations challenge Iranian authority, Parvez Sharma sends a new on-the-ground dispatch via a friend enmeshed in the Tehran protests: Some are fearful, but there’s a sense in the crowd that victory is within reach.
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Ahmadinejad: Nazi or Not?by The Daily Beast
Stanley Crouch says the Iranian president’s playbook is straight out of Hitler’s, but Nazee Moinian says he’s misunderstood and much more nuanced than the West believes.
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Iranians to Obama: Hushby Azadeh Moaveni
Lipstick Jihad author Azadeh Moaveni says protesters in Tehran have a surprising view on Obama's silence: Keep it up.
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Support Twitter to Support Iranby Ariel Kastner
If the Obama administration is serious about aiding the Iranian opposition, then it should embrace the technology that’s fueling it.
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What Iranians See on TVby Alex Vatanka
When Iranians turn to state-owned media, they get "reporting" far detached from their own experience. Alex Vatanka, a Middle East expert for Jane's, on the bias and Iranians' alternative options.
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Why Obama Won't Talk Toughby Richard Wolffe
The easiest way to demonize the reformers in Iran, a senior administration official tells The Daily Beast's Richard Wolffe, is for the U.S. to align with them. Inside the Obama's PR strategy.
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Why Iran's Rulers Fear a Revoteby Douglas Schoen
History and numbers explain the Iranian regime’s fear of a revote, says pollster Douglas Schoen, who has seen three similarly fraudulent elections abroad. Mousavi would crush Ahmadinejad in a rematch.
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Memo From the Streets of Tehranby Parvez Sharma
As Iranians dispute the results of Friday's election, Parvez Sharma sends The Daily Beast an on-the-ground dispatch written by a friend enmeshed in the Tehran protests.
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Iran's Exiled Queen Speaksby The Daily Beast
As protesters flood Iran’s streets, Farah Pahlavi—the deposed empress—recalls the lessons of the 1979 uprising that led to her husband’s painful exile. A conversation with The Daily Beast.
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Iran's Feminist Revolutionby Dana Goldstein
An underreported part of the Iranian protests is that women are leading the way. Dana Goldstein on why Iran’s feminists decided they’d finally had enough.
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How Arab Media Is Covering Iranby Salameh Nematt
As democratic media back Iran's opposition, it’s a different story in authoritarian regimes. Salameh Nematt reports on journalists remaining in Iran and the overall political news war.
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How Iran's Hackers Killed Big Brotherby Douglas Rushkoff
Tehran's streets may be bloody, says Douglas Rushkoff, but the opposition has won the digital war. The battleground: Facebook and Twitter. The weapons: bandwidth and hacking. The prize: the end of totalitarianism.
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The Media Can Profit from Twitter's Big Weekby Larry Kramer
The micro-blogging service is leading the Iran election coverage and is even breaking big sports news. But its newfound dominance doesn’t have to be bad news for traditional news organizations, says Larry Kramer.
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Whose Side is Obama On?by Reihan Salam
During the campaign, Obama pledged to meet any world leader "without preconditions." Now that Iran is in turmoil, he needs to go back on his word.
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Don't Aid Mousaviby Raymond Tanter
President Obama's no drama Iran mantra won't work, says former Reagan National Security Council member Raymond Tanter. He should skip over Mir Hossein Mousavi and instead back parties that are actually willing to overthrow the supreme leader.
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@Revolution: Taking a Page from Khomeini's Playbook by Nasser Weddady & Jesse Sage
Thirty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini mastered the art of nonviolent confrontation to mobilize grassroots support and respond strategically to repression by the Shah's regime. Can today’s opposition learn from his feat?
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Is Iran's Regime Cracking?by Salameh Nematt
Pillars of the Islamic Revolution are turning against the supreme leader and a massive, bloody security crackdown on the thousands of peaceful protesters is looking increasingly likely—leaving Obama with a huge dilemma.
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Exclusive: Former Iran Hostage: Why the Government Won't Be Overturnedby Benjamin Sarlin
Moorhead Kennedy was taken hostage in Iran in 1979 and watched the government crumble. He tells The Daily Beast’s Benjamin Sarlin about why regime change is unlikely this time around. MORE >>
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My Tehran Under Siegeby Jason Rezaian
In a dispatch from Tehran, Jason Rezaian describes the police beatings, flaming garbage cans, and rising sense of despair that have turned his quiet neighborhood into a battleground. MORE >>
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'I Hope It Was Rigged'by Telmah Parsa
Writing from Iran, university student Telmah Parsa surveys the post-election mood—from a friend who hopes the vote was rigged (because if it wasn’t, Iran just re-elected Ahmadinejad) to his parents, who say the “irreligious hipsters” out protesting need to face up to their defeat. MORE >>
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Iran's Military Coupby Reza Aslan
The Iranian election was bald-faced election fraud, writes The Daily Beast’s Reza Aslan, perpetrated by a powerful intelligence unit known as the Pasdaran. MORE >>
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Twitter Breaks Strike Newsby The Daily Beast
Protestors in Iran have been using social media to spread the word—and now reports are trickling in that Mousavi is calling for a massive “Green Revolution” strike tomorrow.
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Hillary's Tricky Iran Gameby Leslie H. Gelb
As evidence mounts that Ahmadinejad stole Iran's election, Hillary Clinton has notably avoided condemning the results. The Daily Beast's Leslie H. Gelb on the why the Obama administration isn't closing any doors . MORE >>
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Harrowing Tweets from Iranby The Daily Beast
After the election, protesters flocked to Twitter and their immediate coverage of the violence proved embarrassing to CNN, which was slow to catch up to the coverage. MORE >>
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An Absurd Outcomeby Suzanne Maloney
The main questions left after Ahmadinejad’s surprising win is how much the vote was manipulated—and, asks Suzanne Maloney of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, whether Obama can possibly still pursue diplomacy as an option with a fractured Iran. MORE >>
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Why Ahmadinejad Just Might Loseby Telmah Parsa
Iranian university student Telmah Parsa on the divergent groups—Iran’s young hipsters versus their deeply religious parents—that could sway Friday’s presidential election, and why the country’s semi-democratic process is still much richer than the Middle East’s other faux elections. MORE >>
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Iran's Hillary Clintonby Geraldine Brooks
Once an anti-shah activist in a miniskirt, Zahrah Rahnavard is now a feminist in a chador. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime Mideast correspondent Geraldine Brooks on how Rahnavard could revolutionize the role of first lady if her husband wins the election. MORE >>
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Iran's Riveting Political Dramaby Reza Aslan
No matter who wins, this election season has been unlike any other in Iran, with Twittering political rallies, rancorous televised debates—and a challenger that has Ahmadinejad lifting pages from Obama’s playbook. The Daily Beast hits the streets in Iran to gauge the mood . MORE >>
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Our Friend Iranby Leslie H. Gelb
Reformers surged ahead of Friday’s elections, says Leslie H. Gelb, which could put the tumultuous country on a path to becoming America’s most important partner in the region. MORE >>