I know that DEBKAfile doesn't enjoy a reputation for utter reliability so I offer the following with that caveat. Nevertheless, according to reports at DEBKAfilethere have been between 5000 to 6000 Iranians arrested since the massive protests of two weeks ago. Other sources put the figure at roughly half that. Even so, a number of those arrested have made televised "confessions" and appear to have been tortured.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, the man who seemed to have actually won the disputed election that precipitated the mass demonstrations, may be brought to trial according to the DEBKAfile post:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, driven by a thirst for revenge, is preparing a wave of show trials, public confessions and executions to crush the opposition which dared to refute the legitimacy of his election. The West, especially the Obama administration, hoping the bloody crackdown was over, can forget about re-engaging Tehran in talks on the nuclear controversy any time soon, when Mir Hossein Mousavi and the reformist ex-president Mohammed Khatami are denounced for "acting as America's fifth column."
Hossein Shariatmadari, writing in the conservative Kayhan daily Saturday, July 4, said Mousavi must be put on trial as a "US agent" who committed "horrible crimes and treason." The writer is a close adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and must be presumed to represent his boss's views.
Whether Mousavi is actually executed or not, it's almost certain that many others will be. The current regime was born in mass executions of their enemies and can't afford to allow the protests to continue to challenge their legitimacy.
President Obama needs to rethink his unwillingness to use force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He has gotten no help at the G-8 summit in Italy from the Russians, who are up to their eyeballs in complicity with the Iranian weapons development program, or anyone else, and without Russian pressure there's little the West can do to stop Tehran without using military means.
When the executions start in Tehran there should be a total blockade of oil and other goods to Iran, and if that fails to stop the mullahs then there should be a reprise of shock and awe on the nuclear weapons facilities in the country. The Iranians are a nation of sophisticated, civilized people ruled by an elite of Islamic Neanderthals. The world cannot afford to allow the Neanderthals access to the most fearsome weapons in history.
RLC