IRAN: UNREST CONTINUES

OBAMA: 'DEEPLY TROUBLED'
THE HILL: "It would be wrong for me to be silent on what we've seen on the television the last few days," Obama said, addressing reporters in the Oval Office . . . He added that he is "deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been seeing on television." . . . READ MORE

VIDEO: GUARDS FIRE ON TEHRAN CROWD

BBC: Shots have been fired during a massive rally in Iran . . . with reports saying one person was killed. . . . READ MORE

U.S. TAKES 'WAIT-AND-SEE' STANCE
FOX NEWS: State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters the U.S. is concerned about allegations of ballot fraud, though it knows too little about the conduct of the election to say whether fraud occurred. He declined to "condemn" Iranian security forces for their crackdown on protesters . . . READ MORE

BLOG REACTION: JULES CRITTENDEN, GATEWAY PUNDIT, MICHELLE MALKIN, HOT AIR, AMERICAN POWER, RED STATE, THE RHETORICAN, PROTEIN WISDOM, MEMEORANDUM

OBAMA AIDE: 'NOT ABOUT US'
WASHINGTON POST: Senior administration official: "This was always going to be hard . . . . there is clearly a debate going on among Iranians about Iran. It is not about us" . . . READ MORE

REPORT: MINISTRY LEAK SHOWS
REFORM CANDIDATE WON VOTE
UK TELEGRAPH: Reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing Mir-Hossein Mousavi as the clear victor . . . The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million . . . Mr Mousavi has accused Iran's government of "fraud" . . . The capital has been rocked by disturbances for the last three days . . . READ MORE

COMMENTARY
HOW THE MULLAHS TOOK IRAN
PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: Khomeini stole a page from Plato’s Republic, took the idea of having a philosopher-king rule and applied it to Iran by working to bring about a political society in which the clergy would directly wield political power, with a Supreme Religious Guide to lead the way. . . . READ MORE

THE IRAQ FACTOR
WILLIAM JACOBSON: The effects of a free Iraq, in which there is a multitude of competing parties and widespread economic freedom, must be great on the Iranians. . . . While Iraq still is subjected to violence, the contrast between the direction Iraq is moving, and the stagnant Iran, could not be more clear, and must not be lost on Iranians in the streets . . . READ MORE

WHILE AMERICA SLEEPS
CLARENDON/PJM: Last Friday, President Obama praised the elections in Iran for the “vigorous debate” taking place. At the time of this writing, he’s had far less to say about the vigorous beatings taking place in Tehran, where the batons are falling on those who dared think their vote mattered. . . . READ MORE

MAHMOUD WON; GET OVER IT
FLYNT LEVERETT & HILLARY MANN LEVERETT: Without any evidence, many U.S. politicians and "Iran experts" have dismissed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election as fraud. They ignore the fact that Ahmadinejad’s 62.6 percent of the vote in this year's election is essentially the same as the 61.69 percent he received in 2005 . . . . READ MORE