Read more Basij militia stories on Newserhttp://www.newser.com/taggrid/41721/basij-militia.html2009 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorTue, 24 Nov 2009 7:42:12 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/65017/ahmadinejad-defies-ayatollah-refuses-to-sack-vice-prez.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagMahmoud Ahmadinejad has defied a direct order from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to dismiss his vice president, opening a rift between Iran's president and supreme leader, reports the Los Angeles Times . Ahmadinejad's newly chosen VP, who is his son's father-in-law, has infuriated hardliners by making favorable remarks about Israel. But Ahmadinejad...http://www.newser.com/story/65017/ahmadinejad-defies-ayatollah-refuses-to-sack-vice-prez.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagWed, 22 Jul 2009 7:58:01 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/63454/mousavis-options-dwindle-as-time-ticks-away.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThe Iranian protest movement is running out of time and options as the regime continues its brutal crackdown, Time reports. Government forces have full control of the streets of Tehran, hundreds of political opponents are in jail, and Western journalists have been packed off. Mir Hossein Mousavi now has no...http://www.newser.com/story/63454/mousavis-options-dwindle-as-time-ticks-away.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagFri, 03 Jul 2009 9:51:01 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/63042/iran-police-clash-with-3k-protesters.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagRiot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters near a mosque in north Tehran today, using tear gas and truncheons to break up Iran's first post-election demonstration in 5 days. Witnesses told the AP that some protesters fought back, chanting: "Where is my vote?" They said others described scenes...http://www.newser.com/story/63042/iran-police-clash-with-3k-protesters.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagSun, 28 Jun 2009 13:47:14 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/62774/in-the-shadows-ayatollahs-son-calls-the-shots.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagAyatollah Ali Khamenei rarely appears in public and cultivates a shadowy reputation—but even further out of the public eye, his son has become one of the post powerful men in Iran. Ultraconservative cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, believed to be around 50 years old, has connections throughout the Revolutionary Guards and...http://www.newser.com/story/62774/in-the-shadows-ayatollahs-son-calls-the-shots.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThu, 25 Jun 2009 9:28:14 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/62693/iran-teen-describes-via-email-his-torture.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagIranian-American activists are circulating an email, written in Farsi, in which a 17-year-old boy describes his torture at the hands of the regime, complete with graphic photographs, Salon reports. The boy, who says he's not an activist of any stripe, says he was minding his own business in a parking...http://www.newser.com/story/62693/iran-teen-describes-via-email-his-torture.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagWed, 24 Jun 2009 9:15:00 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/62618/shadowy-militia-is-first-line-of-defense-for-iran-regime.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThe Iranian regime’s first response against pro-Mousavi protesters last week was not the Revolutionary Guard but its volunteer branch, the Basij militia, CNN reports. Iran says the militia, created by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, numbers 12 million; the actual count is probably a smaller—but still effective—300,000....http://www.newser.com/story/62618/shadowy-militia-is-first-line-of-defense-for-iran-regime.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 23 Jun 2009 12:22:30 CDT