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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/08/iran
Iran's Revolution? The Hardliners Won
[Guardian-UK] What happened to the Iranian revolution of 2009? The hardliners won. A raid on the Tehran office of vanquished presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, crude threats against leading opposition figures, pre-emptive arrests of students returning to university, more fierce rhetoric aimed at foreign "plotters" - these are the latest unpleasant manifestations of the regime's retrenchment. Ahmadinejad's reviving confidence is evident, too, in his mockery of Western countries keen to revive talks about Iran's nuclear program. Is Iran taking Western concerns seriously? No, it is not. Two choices remain. One is to admit the Israelis may be right in arguing that military action is the only sure way to hinder or stop Iran's nuclear advances. The other is to do nothing - and hope that Iran's repeated assurances that it does not seek the atom bomb are true.