The political reality underlying student protests and bloody clashes with the police in Tehran and other Iranian cities is that a growing number of Iran's youthful population despises the country's corrupt clerical dictatorship.

For the protesting students and for the rest of the world, the central question hovering over the current demonstrations is whether this eruption of discontent will be a passing cloud in the sky or the beginning of the end for the ruling mullahs.

It has already become evident that students are not risking beatings and death merely to show support for the marginal reforms of Iran's elected president, Mohammad Khatami. He has issued a statement saying that the protesters have made their point and ''now students should cooperate with the government and allow law and order to be established in society.''

The students have other ideas. They refused to cease demonstrating until their demands are met. They want July 15 to be designated a national day of mourning for their companions who were killed by the police and vigilantes doing the dirty work of the hard-line clerics… The slogans of the protesters suggest they are passing beyond calls for limited reforms….

For the clerics who censor newspapers and have stolen and squandered Iran's great wealth, this evocation of a second revolution must come as the ultimate threat… Now they also know that many Iranians want them to go the way of the Shah.
 
 

Khatami Vows to Put Down Student Protests, Says They Threaten National Security, Agence France Presse, July 13

TEHRAN - Mohammad Khatami Tuesday evening vowed to put down student protests in the capital after a sixth straight day of unrest.

In a message read on state television, the president described their continued demonstrations in defiance of a government ban as "deviations which will be repressed with force and determination."

[In a dispatch from Tehran, Reuters reported: Khatami Tuesday condemned violent protests…, saying they were against the country's interests and his government's policies.

["These actions are against the interests of our nation, our system and the government's programs," the Khatami told state television. He said what had started as a peaceful student protest had degenerated into a violent threat to Iran's security.

["I am sure that these people have evil aims. They intend to foster violence in society, and we shall stand in their way. ... We take the security of our country and our citizens very seriously," Khatami said.]
 
 

Iranian Resistance Encouraged by Protests, Reuters, July 13

WASHINGTON - The eruption over the past few days of the most widespread anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 revolution clearly showed the depth of popular opposition to the administration of President Mohammad Khatami, an Iranian resistance group said on Tuesday.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said the pro-democracy student protests which swept through 18 cities and towns, including Tehran, Tabriz and Shiraz, were a strong indication that Iran's theocracy was under threat from ordinary citizens.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, which has offices in Washington and London, is the political wing of a resistance group allied to the Peoples' Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahideen Khalq, the largest and most active Iranian dissident group.

"The demonstrations involved a widespread spectrum of groups in several cities," Hedayat Mostowfi an official of the Iranian resistance said.

"People are looking for broad change toward democracy, outside the religious dictatorship," he noted.

"The fire has started in Iran. You cannot stop it because people have tasted the fruit of this move," said Mostowfi.

The Iranian resistance groups said they plan to stage a protest rally on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday to "echo the demands of the demonstrators in Iran for an end to the clerical regime."
 
 

Tehran Bazaar Closes As Street Battles Spread, Reuters, July 13

TEHRAN - Shops in Tehran's main bazaar closed on Tuesday after fighting between pro-democracy protesters and police and Islamic vigilantes spread to streets around the capital's main commercial district.

Meanwhile, state television interrupted its regular programming to call for calm and warn about an enemy plot to cause internal differences and threaten Iran's security.

"Today every noble Iranian knows who gains from splits in our ranks.," a television reporter said.

The television played patriotic songs and repeatedly called on the public to attend nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday, organized by Islamic conservatives to denounce the student unrest.

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