A stunning pic from Tehran shows that special guards are in charge of destroying cars, not protesters.

Interesting pics about protests in Tehran: (Click here)

Ahamadinejad held a press conference at 3:30 pm (Tehran time). He talked about Iran’s unique governance model and the other slogans that we’ve heard from him a lot. Highly criticized the western media on their coverage. He basically is trying to divert the attention from what is going on in Tehran’s streets. The first few questions were, as always, questions by government backed news agencies. He said Iran’s nuclear program belongs to the past, meaning : forget any negotiation.  He directed the protests in Iran to  foreign sources and roots. Over the past few days, conservatives have tried to portray the recent protests as moved back from out of the coutry in order to question the originality of such protests. This makes it easier for the government to confront them.  I’m amazed by the coverage of foreign correspondents in Tehran. Most of the reports I’ve read, over the past two weeks, indicate a series of difficulties in order to understand  the Iranian society, the election process,  how conservatives rule Iran and so on.

I was just reviewing the Iranian blogsphere. Angry people and particularly young bloggers are trying to find a way to get out of the current deadlock… They mainly have their eyes on Major figures, like Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is the head of Iran’s Assembly of Exports “( Khobregan Majlis) which according to the country’s constitution is in charge of  approval and removal of the supreme leader. However, I do not think he acts that extreme. The history shows that any opposition to  the Supreme Leader by any individuals or political parties is equal to the end of their political life. But it’s very interesting to see the options that have been raised in the blogosphere. According to the article number 111:

“In case the Leader is unable to carry out his legal functions, or loses one of his qualifications mentioned in Article 5 and Article 109, or if it transpires that he did not qualify some of the conditions form the very beginning, he shall be dismissed from his position.” Such decision shall be made by the Khobregan (Assembly of Experts) mentioned in Article 108.

“In the case of death, resignation or dismissal of the Leader, the Khobregan shall be required to determine and declare the new Leader at the earliest. As long as the Leader is not declared, a council composed of the President, Head of the Judiciary and one of the Faqihs (jurisconsults) of the Council of Guardians chosen by the Majma-e- Tashkhis-e-Maslahate-e- Nezam shall collectively discharge the functions of the Leader on a temporary basis. If one of them is not able to discharge his duties for any reason whatsoever during this period, another person shall be appointed by the Majma in his place, maintaining the majority of the Faqihs in the council.

“This council shall proceed with the discharge of the duties set out in paragraphs 1, 3, 5 and 10, and sub-paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of paragraph 6, Article 110 hereof, after approval by three fourths of the members of the Majma-e-Tashkis-e-Maslahat-e- Nezam.

“If the Leader is temporarily unable to discharge the functions of the Leader as a result of sickness or other accidents, the council mentioned in this article shall discharge his functions during such period.”

Membership of the permanent members of the EDCS in the Constitutional Revision Council, in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 177 of the Constitution.

Ratification of the laws passed by the Leadership Council, in accordance with Article 111 of the Constitution.

There are lots of rumors about what’s going on in Iran now. I just heard that Ahmadinejad’s government is preparing for the use of guards from Lebanon and Venezuela. It seems that the Iranian police is not going to do whatever they are asked to do. I hope this stays just a rumor. Iran’s police is not a professional one and most of the people we see in the streets as policemen are poor soldiers who spend their mandatory military service. They are just like the other people. Many of them probably do now support the government, and Ahmadinejad in particular.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 13 (IPS) – Just a few months after a right-wing government gained power in Israel, Iran’s hardliner president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was declared the winner in Friday’s election, although his main rival has not accepted defeat and reformist supporters were skirmishing with security forces in the capital Tehran Saturday.

According to Iran’s Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad took 62.6 percent of the vote, with leading reformist candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi receiving 33.7 percent – thus averting a widely anticipated run-off. The ministry says turnout was a record 85 percent of eligible voters. Continue reading IRAN: Ahmadinejad Victory Sparks Protests and Claims of Fraud →

A video by AP on Tehran’s protests:

Here is the like to a ABC7 show on Iran’s election. On this show, I said that, “it’ a result of an organized fraud. You can watch the video here. 

“This is the result of an organized and engineered fraud,” said Omid Memarian.

Memarian worked as a journalist in Iran and just graduated from U.C. Berkeley’s journalism school. He’s been perusing the web all day and bloggers are crying foul.

“Iran’s electoral system is not that fast to be able to announce the results that fast. It’s a big country, tons of different villages and small cities which are not computerized,” said Memarian.

“If people see that [the government] has cheated, they should protest in the streets,” said Effat Marashi, the wife of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran’s former president and the head of Assembly of Experts, which officially monitors the Supreme Leader’s performance. (Also read my story about the result of the election here)