MORE VIOLENCE IN TEHRAN - AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  Recall, please, that overthrowing the Shah in 1979 took months.  The Iranian opposition is in its first month of protests:

Iranian pro-opposition protesters clashed with police Friday on the streets of Tehran in the first major rally since the end of last-month's post-election tensions.

Iranian police detained at least 15 people and used tear gas and batons to disperse opposition supporters outside Tehran University, a witness said.

Witnesses also said that a big crowd of Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters rallied in central Tehran after the Friday prayers sermon, a witness said."

"They are wearing green wristbands and carrying Mousavi's pictures while showing the victory sign," the witness said. Green was Mousavi's symbolic color for the presidential vote.

Near the university gates, police fired tear gas at Mousavi supporters as they headed for the prayers, witnesses said. They spoke on condition of anonymity fearing government retaliation.

COMMENT:  If we help, and encourage the opposition, which is what Michael Ledeen has been urging for years, we can, in Lincoln's words, "press the thing."  But I don't see any pressing.  The Obamans, never terribly interested in democracy to begin with, are still obsessed with "engagement."  Must not interfere, they say.  Tat.  Tat.  Of course, interfering in Honduras on behalf of an ally of Hugo Chavez a few weeks back was quite another matter. 

Are you, day by day, getting a picture of this administration? 

July 17, 2009