The author is not truthful or is uninformed about a lot>
"Like the shah, Khamenei seems reluctant to order a massive crackdown that would involve summary executions and random shootings of the thousands of protesters."
Khamenei's actions seem pretty brutal to me. 80 were reported to have been killed during the last demonstrations. And more than 2,000 arrested.
Note- authors bio line>
Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of "The Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs."
Remember, dictators are always at their weakest when they attempt to reform—the Shah. I don’t see any attempt by these Mullah thugs at reform, so this thing will go on for a while longer. Its just a question of how far down the country must go before they throw them off and move forward.
Because political power in Iran is held by Islamic religious leaders, disaffection with the government translates into disaffection with Islam. Where the world sees thousands of angry protesters, Iranian christians see fields ripe for harvest, muslims ready to hear the truth of Jesus. So, they’ve been out in the streets, offering food and water to the protesters, and sharing the love of Christ!