Free Republic

It was the sniper shot heard round the world. One moment, a young woman is standing on the sidewalk, watching the Iranian people stand up to the state. A second later, she crumbles to the sidewalk, blood pumping uselessly out of the gunshot wound in her chest. A faceless police sniper has killed Neda Agha Soltan, but also made her immortal. Her murder was videotaped and sent worldwide. Her death is now the defining image of the 2009 Iranian revolution.

The Iranian people are fighting to create change they can believe in while the Obama team is sending a signal that says "No, you can't."

The uprising in Iran can only succeed if there are fundamental shifts within the clerical power structure that runs the country. There are now signs that an opposition group is crystallizing within the religious leadership.

Tehran's authoritarian leaders clearly were caught off-guard. They had managed to take down the telephone system opposition supporters used for texting but for some reason were slow to eliminate other social media. As open defiance of the election results broke out, citizen journalists used new media to spread the word. And the whole Web was watching.

According to the Cyrus News Agency, Tuesday morning 16 senior members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were arrested. "These commanders have been in contact with members of the Iranian army to join the people's movement," CNA reports.

Hundreds of thousands are in the streets of the capital despite the very late time and protests along with sporadic clashes are happenening in several areas of Tehran. Demos and clashes are rocking the south, north, east, west and especially the center of the Capital. From Nazi Abad and Majidie to Shahrak Gharb and Guisha and from Dolat and Shariati to Rey, hundreds of gatherings and thousands and thousands of protesters are showing their rejection of the regime. At several occasion, brutal plainclothes men were captured by the demonstrators and were attached to trees. Several patrols and plainclothes men's bikes...

The Uprising is Spreading to the General population Independant News Agency Zagros (INAZ) - Saterday June 13th, 2003, The third night and the fourth day of the urpising of the people is still in progress. From the start of last night thursday, thousands who headed towards the university helped open the locked gates for the students and the people to join each other. Clashes between the people and the regime's forces, in particular the Ansar e Hezbollah (Islamist Vigilante's) has started. These clashes lasted 9 hours, and the plainclothes Hezbollah vigilantes attacked the people with chains and poniard daggers. There...

Iranian Militants Put Down Anti-Government Protests TEHRAN, June 13 -- Hundreds of pro-government militants and security forces clashed with Iranians throughout the capital tonight, firing machine guns in the air and using tear gas and batons to put down any public opposition to the country's religious rulers. They were the most intense and widespread of four consecutive nights of clashes in Tehran, which were sparked by university students and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment. Witnesses said security officers fired machine guns in the air and tear gas at crowds to disperse hundreds of onlookers.