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Fareed Zakaria got into a little spat over the weekend when he interviewed via satellite Tehran University Professor Mohammed Marandi. Zakaria grew exasperated with Marandi's efforts to minimize the brutal crackdown in Iran. Marandi blamed opposition leader Mousavi for causing civil unrest within Iran after the election, and the United States and other western countries for urging Iranians to riot, in the hope of regime change. Zakaria compared Marandi to the 1980's era Soviet officials who "spoke perfect english, where everything was fine" until it all collapsed, asking if he too will one day be viewed as a "mouthpiece for a dying repressive regime."

Join this unprecedented wave of global citizen activism in solidarity with the people of Iran. On July 25, participate in an event in one of more than 105 cities around the world. Find out how else you can help.

http://united4iran.org

Note: the song used in the video above is by Dj Spooky and features Sussan Deyhim a renowned Iranian singer. It's available as a free download, here. "Azadi (The New Complexity) is a song based on a very old poem by Rumi, one of the poet laureates of Iran’s ancient tradition of poetry. The word Azadi itself simply means Freedom".

Reza Aslan weighs in on Iran's reform movement and the fight for the future of the Islamic Republic.

Aslan wore the green armband as a show of support for the Reform movement. Aslan also said "Thank god for Barack Obama," and not some more militant blowhard making bombastic statements who would have made the situation much worse, a move which would have led to more bloodshed and ended the reform movement. Hooman Majd called such people Ahmadinejad's useful idiots.

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[H/t Dave]

An Iranian gives her eye-witness report on today's atrocities carried out against non-violent protesters on the streets of Tehran. Further accounts online paint a similar grim picture. From persiankiwi's excellent twitter page:

all shops was closed - nowhere to go - they follow ppls with helicopters - smoke and fire is everywhere #Iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from web

ppl run into alleys and militia standing there waiting - from 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys #Iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from web

saw 7/8 militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing - #Iranelection sure that she is deadabout 5 hours ago from web

they were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals #Iranelectionabout 5 hours ago from web

I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war - #Iranelectionabout 5 hours ago from web

Nico Pitney relays from Facebook:

"In Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher . . . Fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq - now . ."

The graphic accounts of the state using terror on it's own citizens has caught much of the media off-guard. Both the interviewer and the news anchor were, at times, left speechless. After years of sanitized war in Iraq and elsewhere we're just not prepared for the brutality or the injustice of such events.

Ebrahim Yazdi's son urges Americans to write letters to the Iranian government asking why they are rounding up demonstrators.

Newsweek reporter and filmmaker Maziar Bahari was also arrested, without charge naturally.

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Melody Moezzi, a contributor to the Huffington Post, explains the deep significance of martyrs in Shia culture. In Farsi, they are now saying on the streets of Tehran "Give me the power of Neda."

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[YouTube]: might not play in your region.

Via BBC Farsi, this amazing footage of protesters beating back riot police on the streets of Iran. As the police turn and flee, the crowd shouts "Hurrah!"

From the BBC report of Wednesday's game in Seoul, South Korea.

Six members of the Iranian football team have worn green armbands during a World Cup qualifying match against South Korea in Seoul.

The players wore the colour adopted by the opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in an apparent show of support.

He challenging the presidential election last week, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.

Most of the players had removed the bands in the second half.

Protesters in Iran who accuse the government of widespread fraud have been wearing similar green wristbands.

The team's captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia, was the only one of the players to keep his armband on after half time.

It was suggested the other players had been ordered by the coach to remove their bands.

UPDATE (via Twitter, translated):

• “The soccer players who were wearing green wristbands in the Iran-South Korea game have been suspended.”

Nico Pitney gives a friend's assessment based on the players suspended:

Just got of the phone with a person who has a lot of insight into Iranian football. He covers Iranian soccer extensively and has interviewed many of the national players in the past few years. He made a great point. He said the 6 people who wore the bands, with the exception of one, are at the end of their careers and, knowing that there will be some kind of reaction, likely took the fall for rest of the team. He firmly believes the 5 older team members who others look up to most likely asked the others not to take the chance and not ruin their professional and financial careers.

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