more clerics break with khamanei

Despite the increasing crackdown on the opposition (complete with alleged confessions of top reformists officials), a prominent group of religious leaders, Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, declared the contentious election and the new government to be illegitimate yesterday. Furthermore, the released statement went on to call upon other mullahs to stand against the election results and likened the 20 protesters killed during the opposition demonstrators to the martyrs who died for the cause of the Islamic Revolution. The group not only directly defied the rule of Ayatollah Khamanei, whose word is supposed to reign supreme, but also continued to strengthen the allegorical connection between today's reformers and those of the Islamic Revolution (and, by logical, extension between today's government and that of the Shah). Naturally, the group in question has no real political power, but the symbolic significance of this act should not be overlooked -- the fact that an Association created by Khomanei himself has now turned against his successor is momentous indeed.

Meanwhile, of course, the Iranian government continues its increasingly ludicrous attempts to paint Mousavi as an American agent. Today, the Kayhan newspaper published a damning editorial in which its editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, accused Mousavi of "terrible crimes," including murdering innocent people, holding riots, co-operating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column." Such an editorial (despite its appearance in one of Iran's most prominent newspapers) is unlikely to actually sway anyone's views, especially given the close relationship between Shariatmadari and Khamanei. However, it does serve as an increasingly overt threat that the Iranian government intends to arrest Mousavi if he continues his steadfast refusal to back down.