IRAN LATEST – AT 6:31 P.M. ET:  They are getting very serious.  But can the protests be sustained?  From Reuters:

DUBAI (Reuters) - Street protests hit Iran for a third day running on Saturday, spreading to the capital Tehran with crowds confronting police and attacking some state buildings, and a social media report said two demonstrators had been shot dead in a provincial town.

The wave of anti-government demonstrations, prompted in part by discontent over economic hardship and alleged corruption, are the most serious since months of unrest in 2009 that followed the disputed re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Saturday's protests, in fact, coincided with state-sponsored rallies staged across the Islamic Republic to mark the final suppression of the 2009 unrest by security forces, with mass pro-government events in Tehran and Mashhad, Iran's second city.

Pro-government rallies were held in some 1,200 cities and towns in all, state television reported.
At the same time, anti-government demonstrations broke out anew in a string of cities and in Tehran for the first time where protesters confronted and stoned riot police around the main university, with pro-government crowds nearby.

Videos posted on social media from the western town of Dorud showed two young men lying motionless on the ground, covered with blood, and a voiceover said they had been shot dead by riot police firing on protesters.

COMMENT: This will be a day-by-day story.  Thus far the United States is still only issuing statements of support for the anti-government demonstrators. 

December 30, 2017