Mousavi's Nephew Allegedly Killed in Iranian Protests

Security forces opened fire at crowds demonstrating against the government in the capital on Sunday, killing at least four people, including the nephew of opposition political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, witnesses and Web sites linked to the opposition said.

"Ali Mousavi, 32, was shot in the heart at the Enghelab square. He became a martyr," the Rah-e Sabz Website reported. WaPo

Clerics Question Iran's Election Legitimacy

The Iranians are working out their own issues--without the insertion of the U.S. Imagine that.

What Do Iran's Reformers Want?

Iran's Clergy Could Oust Supreme Leader

Iranian's clergy, who have the power to oust the Supreme Leader, are divided on the elections. They're also rivaling each other to be the next Supreme Leader.
The power struggle going on in Iran is bigger and more complex than we know.

CNN reports violence in Iran today:

Mousavi Trying to Engage Obama for His Own Gain

This is so dangerous. As if we don't have enough of our own troubles.
Mousavi is trying to engage Obama for his own ends. He's luring the U.S. to fight his battle. Watch the video.
The republicans are suckers. They've already made it clear they'd like to fight Mousavi's battle (under the guise that they're fighting for a fair Iranian election). Since when do the republicans care about the Iranian people? Please.
Mousavi promises better relations with the U.S. but it's easy to see what he's trying to do. 
I'd suggest people read about Mousavi and read about the history of Iran and how U.S. meddling in past elections have negatively affected U.S. Iranian relations and led to leaders like Ahmadinejad.  
Here's what I think
1) The media has skewed election coverage.
2) Ahmadinejad may have actually won. Ahmadinejad's supporters, the rural people, aren't media savvy. They're not on Twitter or Facebook. They don't speak English and they're not being heard. 
Even if Mousavi won, it's up to the Iranian people to demand better of their country and to change their country. The U.S. can be supportive but we shouldn't be fighting their battles. Give it a few more years and Ahmadinejad could be history for real.

Protesters in Black Mourn in Tehran

Iranians Hold a Silent Peace March

The Iranian people are doing all the right things. They're demanding their rights and the leaders are paying attention. Check out more video here. No matter what happens, the people won. Hopefully, the government will not make the decision to crack down on protesters. Mousavi is calling for another march tomorrow. If you're on Twitter, check out the Cyberwar guide for the Iranian elections here.
More video:

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Some perspective:

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Iran's Power Struggle

More violence today:

Iranians may not like Ahmadinejad but they're happy with their government:

Brzezinksi: U.S. Shouldn't Interfere In Iran's Elections

Brzezenski's advice: Be sympathetic but don't encourage a violent showdown.

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Would Moussavi Be an Improvement?

Iranians are angry, and rightfully so, that their vote didn't seem to count. Having your vote count is key to a democracy. But I was wondering this today: What if Moussavi did win? How much of a step up is Moussavi? Moussavi did say he wanted better relations with the U.S., and he doesn't deny the Holocaust, and his wife did say she admired Michelle Obama. But CNN says Moussavi may not be much of an improvement over Ahmadinejad:

Though the 67-year old is credited for successfully navigating the Iranian economy as prime minister during a bloody eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, he also was a hard-liner whom the Economist described as a "firm radical."

He, like most Iranians in power, does not believe in the existence of Israel. He defended the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979, which led to the break in ties between the countries.

He was part of a regime that regularly executed dissidents and backed the fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie.

And as late as April, he opposed suspending the country's nuclear-enrichment program but said it would not be diverted to weapons use.

"I wouldn't go as far as (call it) a 'Velvet Revolution,'" Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said of the phrase many are using to describe the rallies in Iran. Read the rest.

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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Iran's Leader Launches Probe into Election Results

At first the Supreme leader proclaimed Ahmadinejad the winner but after yesterday's protest, he's called for a probe. Seems that process can be rigged too.