As Iran continues to descend into a darker and darker crisis of legitimacy and order, Mousavi takes a stand:
I have no hesitation about becoming one of the martyrs for realizing the religious and national rights of the people ... My blood is the same colour as that of my [killed] supporters, but imprisoning and killing the Moussavis and Karroubis would definitely not solve the problems as the people's protests have now developed their own momentum... "We have several times been told [by the establishment] that if you issue no statements, the people would not come to the streets, but neither me nor Mr Karroubi had issued any statement, but the people still came into the streets.... The establishment think that with killing demonstrators and arresting intellectuals and academics and blocking the media, they could remove the roots of the crisis, but they just deceive themselves as with such superficial methods, the opposition will just become stronger.
These are crucial days and weeks:
“In terms of longevity, this could go on for some time but could also unravel quite quickly if the government loses its nerve,” said Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at St. Andrews University in Scotland. “In this respect Khamenei is the key. He’s the equivalent of the Shah and is similarly weak.”