Tomorrow, February 11 is the day Iran celebrates the anniversary of its revolution against the Shah in 1979. The Green Movement leaders have urged their followers to go into the streets and protest the repression.
President Ahmadinejad, for his part, is promising "a big surprise", and pro-government demonstrators are being bused into Tehran.
One can easily imagine massive violence, even riots, with harsh repressive measures (more executions?) to follow. To my prayers (currently for the sudden demise of one of the five right-wing Supreme Court justices) I will add one that the leaders of Iran's government see fit to stay the order to open fire on peaceful demonstrators.
This is clearly a case in which our government needs to say little more than to urge Iran's government to restrain itself from excessive violence. Afterwards, there may well be more to say, but we should not be viewed as inciting the Iranians to do that which they clearly want to do anyway.
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I recommend to readers this eloquent and detailed letter from 2003 Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi to the UN Human Rights Commissioner:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/08/iran.ebadi/index.html.
It appears that massive repression did not occur, and that protestors were blocked from direct confrontation with pro-government demonstrators.
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