This strikes me as a vital data point:
“We are against any sanctions against our nation,” Mousavi said in a statement posted on Rouydadnews reformist website. He said sanctions “will impose agonies on a nation who suffers enough from miserable statesmen.” He added: “The country is on the verge of crises which will mostly hurt the poor as a result of wrong and adventurous foreign policies of the government from which our people suffer. “We might have simplistically thought this is an advantage for our green movement, but it is not,” said Mousavi, who along with his green-wearing supporters regard President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election as “illegitimate.” “Which one of them can be expected to care about the agony their behaviour imposes on people?” he asked of Iran’s current leaders. “If we don’t care about what harms those living in this land, nobody will.”
The core goal of Iran policy should, in my view, be empowering the opposition. That means listening to them. Mousavi follows Karroubi in this stance. Their advice should be taken to heart. These people have risked their lives for their freedom. We should take our cues from them, not the other way round.