Is Iran at a tipping point?

A new round of protests — and a bloody crackdown — have left Iran's government looking vulnerable to some observers

The Iranian government's crackdown on the Shiite holy day of Ashura this past weekend left at least nine Green Movement protesters dead, including a nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom many consider the rightful winner of the disputed presidential election in June. As the protest movement grows more forceful, some commentators are asking if the Green Movement has pushed Ayatollah Ali Khameni's beleagured regime to the tipping point. (Watch a report about opposition in Iran)

This is the beginning of the end for Khameni: The legitimacy of Ayatollah Ali Khameni's already "profoundly shaken" regime "is now being shredded," says Informed Consent blogger Juan Cole. The size and geographic scope of the Ashura protests marks a new stage in the Green Movement, and the killing of Mousavi's nephew — the Mousavis are "putative descendants of the Prophet Muhammad" — on Ashura "borders on insanity."

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