Or at least rumors of an opposition rally, it’s very hard to tell because of a government ban on any reporting of demonstrations in the streets. Â Hopefully the two groups will not meet, if there had been fighting we probably would have heard about it by now. There is also a very disturbing and fact-based story that journalists with temporary visas are being deported. The BBC reports that the ruling Council has authorized a “partial recount” of the results. Perhaps the best that the opposition can hope for at this point is a chance for a declaration that the election was close enough to have a runoff, but obviously the people running the government are reluctant to grant even that. I think it’s fairly important to their future that the opposition stay non-violent in appearance.
UPDATE: Juan Cole has more information about a possible split in the Iranian ruling clerical leadership, and says that Montazeri, who has not criticized the official result, is under house arrest. Montazeri is a rival to Khamanei. Â McClatchy has some detail on Montazeri’s criticism.
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