Interviewed from Iran 8:09
A rare interview from inside Iran. Are the hard-liners losing power? Is the Supreme Leader still supreme?
Source: CNN | Added July 26, 2009 more CNN video
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Rafsanjani: Release prisoners 3:09

After weeks of silence, leading reformist cleric Ayatollah Rafsanjani takes to the podium during Friday prayers in Iran.

Report: Iran to prosecute satellite TV contributors: Via CNN.com .

In another move to crack down on information flowing out of Iran, the Islamic Republic's judicial chief has ordered the prosecution of individuals "who cooperate with satellite television programming providers," a reformist newspaper reported Sunday.

"The individuals, who in any way collaborate with these networks or are entrenched in the nucleus of organizations which are active through Internet sites, must be adequately and properly subject to legal actions. It is imperative that this phenomenon be seriously dealt with by all judicial authorities of the country as well as by provincial judicial authorities," Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi said in his order, which was quoted by the newspaper Hamshahri.

The ayatollah called on local judicial heads to work with investigators to determine "intentions, objectives and their sources of financial, political and intelligence support" of individuals who "operate against the system," according to Hamshahri, a widely circulated pro-reform publication that has been in print for more than a decade.
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CNN Poll: Americans don’t want to intervene in Iran election crisis : Via CNN Political Ticker.

A new national poll suggests that that nearly three out of four Americans don't want the U.S. directly intervene in the election crisis in Iran even though most Americans are upset by how the Iranian government has dealt with protests over controversial election results.

More than eight in ten questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, released Monday, think the election results released by the Iranian government were a fraud, with just one in ten believing the results were accurate. But only three in ten respondents say they are personally outraged by the results, with another 55 percent upset by not outraged.

Most Americans approve of how President Obama's handled the situation. And 74 percent think the U.S. government should not directly intervene in the post-election crisis, with one out of four feeling that Washington should openly support the demonstrators who are protesting the election results.
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Thousands demonstrate silently in Tehran: Via The CNN Wire - CNN.com Blogs.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — About 5,000 protesters marched slowly and silently through Tehran on Sunday near a mosque where the government was allowing a demonstration for the first time in days.

Authorities are riding on motorcycles alongside the marchers, who are telling each other to walk slowly and drag their feet, a CNN producer reported. Police are telling the demonstrators to move faster, said the producer, who CNN is not naming for security reasons.

The marchers are walking from north to south down a major street, Shariati Street, near the Ghoba Mosque, where a memorial is being held in honor of a hero of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Some of the protesters are telling the police that they have the legal right to protest in peace, the CNN journalist said.

The gathering is officially meant to honor Mohammad Beheshti, who was killed in a bombing on this date 28 years ago. It follows two weeks of protests against the official results of the June 12 presidential elections, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won.

Read Original Article:(Via The CNN Wire - CNN.com Blogs.)
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