Defiant Iranians Take to the Streets

After Iran's government banned a rally, hundreds of thousands of Iranians take to the streets:

They came in swarms along the miles-long stretch leading from Revolution Square into Freedom Square, and from other streets, pouring in a nonstop stream, blocking traffic along nearby highways, where passengers in stopped cars began waving.

"Mousavi! Mousavi!" they chanted, in support of the 67-year-old former prime minister who showed up at the rally, along with other prominent reformist figures.

"If I died today it would be perfect," said Hossein, a 60-year-old retired schoolteacher, walking through the crowd with the help of cane. "The nation of Iran has woken up."
LAT

The Obama administration is not taking sides, saying it's monitoring the events, so it's not perceived influencing one side or the other. Reporter Richard Engel says the outcome of the election is in the hands of the so-called supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Others say Khamenei isn't all that powerful, rather it's the revolutionary guard that has the power and maybe even rigged the election:

I've heard people say that President Ahmadinejad is gathering so much power that he might be able to use the Revolutionary Guard and his other allies to make a coup d'etat against the state.

A coup d'etat? They've already made one! They've created a dictatorship, in fact. Do you know that last night the security forces occupied the offices of many newspapers, to make sure that their reporting on the election was favorable? They changed many headlines. They fixed the election.

The Guards are taking over everything, including many economic institutions. The ministry of the interior is increasing its control in all the provinces.

We have information that Ahmadinejad is thinking about changing the Constitution to allow the president to serve more than two terms, to make his presidency more or less permanent.

Of course, there are strong voices in the establishment that will challenge him. It is not clear that he and the Sepah (the Revolutionary Guard) will be strong enough to overcome them. But there will be clashes over this.

Where does the Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stand in regard to this?

The problem is that there is concern about the relationship between the Leader and the Guards. To what extent can the Leader control or moderate the Guards? This is a difficult question. Opinion by Robert Dreyfuss, NPR

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An honest recount is unlikely:

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Reza Aslan calls it a military coup:

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McCain Makes Most of Iran's Missile Testing

Why not? it's the only platform he has to stand on.
Not only does his campaign make a big deal but they use big words to do it:

McCain camp holds conference call on Obama’s response to Iran.

Foreign adviser Scheunemann slams Obama’s openness to meeting without preconditions with Iran’s president, calling it “unilateral cowboy summitry” and “impetuous unilateralism.”

Just what kind of action is McCain calling for, besides a ballistic missile system, which would take how many years to set up? Should we bomb, bomb, bomb now and get it over with? Or just ship them more cigarettes. 
Obama responds with a book (you just know he had this ready to go), showing that McCain is windy:

“With Iran now spinning 3800 centrifuges, threatening Israel, meddling in Iraq, and funding terrorists, the current policy toward Iran that Senator McCain has fully supported is clearly failing. Senator Obama welcomes the diplomatic efforts of our European allies as a step in the right direction, but believes the United States should be at the table as part of that effort and in order to advance a comprehensive approach that offers a package of incentives and disincentives. That’s why he cosponsored a bill that would designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization and authored a bill that would direct divestment from Iran. Unfortunately, John McCain has not signed on to Senator Obama’s bill. Rather than supporting Senator Obama’s bipartisan efforts to pressure Iran, Senator McCain has instead promised four more years of the same failed policies,” said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.
OBAMA HAS CONSISTENTLY URGED THAT IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD BE LABELED WHAT IT IS: A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Obama Cosponsored The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, Which Would Designate The Iranian Revolutionary Guard As A Terrorist Organ, Prohibit Trade With Iran, Freeze Iranian Officials’ Assets, Help Combat Terrorist Financing. In 2007, Obama cosponsored legislation expressing the Senate of the Senate on a variety of existing and proposed sanctions against Iran and providing mechanisms to assure a supply of nuclear fuel for peaceful means. “This legislation urges the Administration to pursue measures in the international financial sector to restrict financing in Iran and encourages foreign state-owned entities to cease investment in Iran’s energy sector. It prohibits all imports from and exports to Iran. It forbids any action that would extend preferential trade treatment to Iran or that would lead to Iranian accession to the WTO. And it freezes assets of senior Iranian officials and their families…The bill prevents the United States from moving forward with a multi-billion dollar nuclear cooperation agreement with Moscow until the President certifies that Russia has suspended its nuclear assistance and the transfers of any conventional weapons and missiles to Iran…The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act also seeks to bring to light the names of companies that continue to feel it is appropriate to do business with the mullahs in Tehran. It requires the Administration to submit an annual report to Congress listing any foreign investments in Iran’s energy sector since January 1 of this year and a determination on whether such investment is sanctionable under the Iran Sanctions Act. And it requires a report listing companies with American operations, whether or not they are incorporated in the United States, which invest in Iran…This legislation will reduce our contributions to the World Bank by the percentage of total money the World Bank loans to entities in Iran…The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act calls on the Administration to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and to add it to the Treasury’s list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Funding is increased for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to strengthen the Treasury’s efforts to combat unlawful or terrorist financing…This legislation designates $10 million in funding to enhance our friendship with the people of Iran by identifying young Iranians to visit the United States under U.S. exchange programs.” [S. 970, 110th Congress, Introduced 3/22/07; Congressional Record, 3/22/07]
Obama Spokesman: Obama Supports Designating The Revolutionary Guard As A Terrorist Organization And Said Obama Objected To Aggressive Passages In The Resolution. Politico.com reported, “Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama supports designating the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. He objects, Burton said, to another passage of the resolution, which finds that: The manner in which the United States transitions and structures its military presence in Iraq will have critical long-term consequences for the future of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, in particular with regard to the capability of… Iran to pose a threat to the security of the region.” [Politico, 9/7/07 ]

There's lots more