Iranians defy Supreme Leader

Iranians have defied the call of the supreme leader Khamenei and continue to be on the streets. The voice of the streets are being heard and the Iranian, mainly youths are fed up with the regime and the corrupted supreme leader who has called the election of Ahmadinejad as divine. Amateur video broadcasted around the world the fate of a young girl who was killed by a militia when she was walking along the street in Tehran with her father. This has become an extremely delicate issue and is fuelling the Iranians to seek for their freedom and maybe to outcast the regime. The manifestation of this kind is the first since the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the people are heading towards another revolution now.

At least 19 people were killed by gunfire from government forces during the demonstrations in Teheran, Shiraz and Isfehan on Saturday, CNN reported based on eyewitness accounts of medical officials in Teheran's hospitals. CNN also quoted unconfirmed reports that put the actual death toll at 150. A week of massive street protests over the results of Iran's presidential elections escalated into open defiance of the entire regime on Saturday, when thousands took to the streets of Teheran chanting "Death to the Dictatorship."

Ignoring the Friday warning by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to call off the protests and accept the official contention that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the June 12 elections, Reformist opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi insistently renewed his demand that the vote be annulled, and indicated that he was prepared for "martyrdom" should he lose his life as a consequence of his and his supporters' defiance.

"We have received word from Mousavi that if he is arrested or disappears, the people should go out on a nationwide strike," one source in Teheran told this correspondent, and expressed the conviction that the former prime minister's life was now in danger. Another Iranian source, in comments reported by Reuters, said Mousavi had given a public address in southwestern Teheran in which he "said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path."