Big developments In Iran. Meir Javedanfar, writing on RealClearWorld:
The most important takeaway message from Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s Friday sermon in Iran today is that the regime now faces one of the most important crisis since the inception of the Islamic Republic.
This is in direct contrast to President Ahmadinejad, who has dismissed the events as marginal and minor incidents. By using the word ‘crisis’ in front of millions of Iranians, Rafsanjani’s biggest target was Ali Khamenei. Sending a direct message to the Supreme Leader, Rafsanjani made it clear that unless a solution suitable for both sides is found, the situation will continue, and this could be dangerous.
His warning was backed up by an example about the Shah, about whom he said “it was the presence of people on the streets which broke the back of arrogant Shah’s regime.”
Read it in its entirety…
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.