Iran after the elections: 8 July - part 2

Tomorrow is going to be the 10th anniversary of the 18 Tir student protests and there's quite a bit of information on planned protests for the day. This link on Facebook (automatically translated here) is being passed around on Twitter quite a bit, and features the addresses of the planned protests in various parts of the country.

In the meantime there's quite a bit of news and opinion to report.

An article here is on the efforts of an Egyptian lawyer to bar Ahmadinejad from visiting the country this month, and another that is working to close an Iranian satellite channel.

This article seems to think that Obama is now keeping up the opening for dialogue to a certain extent for show for the time being in order to better make the case later on for sanctions if needed. I'm inclined to agree. In the meantime events in Iran are still fluid so there is no real reason to begin to outline a new policy when it's still uncertain what the next week or even few days hold for Iran, so in the meantime there's nothing to be lost and everything to gain by simply saying that you're open to dialogue and letting them take all the criticism. It's the classic move of not interrupting one's enemy while he makes a mistake.

The National Iranian-American Council has reported that 1) Rafsanjani is still missing from Friday prayers and is anything but content with the current situation, and 2) Saudi Arabia has not given Israel permission to fly over their airspace, among other news.

Today's article from the New York Times on the situation tells of the lack of support from the religious establishment for Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, which is preferring to stay silent or offer muted protests.

BBC also has an article on pretty much the same subject, the moving of protests from the streets to the seminary.

Here's an article on the planned protests for tomorrow.