As Iranians defy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning that there will be blood on the streets of Tehran if there are continued protests, it’s now clear that there are indeed extensive protests going on in Iran — and the latest is that two of the key sites on the Internet now have reports saying opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi who was earlier reported to be detained is now on the streets and has told demonstrators “I am ready for death.”
From Nico Pitney’s comprehensive live blogging on The Huffington Post (updated constantly so GO HERE to follow it):
@LilyMazahery: “Mousavi is at head of Jayhoon ave. giving a speech.”
Reliable Iranian on Twitter: “mousavi among people: I am ready for death”
Another: “Mousavi – Confirmed – I have prepared for martyrdom”
Andrew Sullivan also has the Mousavi quote.
Also GO HERE to follow Sullivan’s equally exhaustive live blogging, although Sullivan is focusing largely on the “tweets” from people using “Twitter,” one of the few on the scene news sources now available as the regime moves towards what is increasingly looking as if it will be a draconian, one-for-the-history books crackdown.
Among other things: state run TV said Mousavi will be held responsible (so his comment above is one of both defiance and resignation to what is likely to follow) — and TV is also showing some people with faces blurred claiming they were sent in by the United States to foment trouble.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.