Day 8

Or Day 2, depending on how you look at it.

Peace is a relative term in Iran these days but even though the massive mobilization (ironically, basij in Farsi) of protesters enters its third day, there are no verified accounts of tanks in the streets, clashes between civilians and police and no news, thank heavens, of anyone killed. Many of the tweets and news reports I've gotten is that many Iranians are sitting in the street as if waiting for something to happen. Even though Mr. Masouvi has not been arrested, rumors of a strike still waft through the air and the ethers of the internet.

However, our day is still young and their night is long. In the meantime, all we can do is turn our Twitter avatars green and change the time zone on our accounts to confound the Basiji who are targeting them.

Golnaz Esfandiari, an Iranian journalist in Prague, says, "Aya. Montazeri, Iran's most senior dissident cleric has declared 3days of mourning for those killed in violence." Ayatollah Montazeri has done more than that. He has practically broken with the rest of the Supreme Ruling Council and he is almost surely not the only one. In a way, the protests may have over-succeeded in that they've produced fissures in the Ruling Council in ways they couldn't have anticipated. They know they have an ally in the Council of Guardians head Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose 46 year-old daughter was arrested yesterday.

Yesterday's shocking yet not surprising violence is already hitting closer to home than some high-ranking Shiite clerics would like.