In Iran, thousands gather for Rafsanjani sermon: Via Los Angeles Times.

The address by the reformist cleric, who has backed contender Mir-Hossein Mousavi, could add fuel to the opposition protests, but some think he might seek to ease tensions.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Reporting from Tehran and Beirut – Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's premier power broker and a force behind opposition figurehead Mir-Hossein Mousavi, took the podium for Friday prayers today for the first time in eight weeks.

Thousands and some said tens of thousands of supporters of Mousavi crammed into downtown Tehran early this afternoon, some with emblematic green ribbons wrapped around the their fingers, to attend a potentially momentous sermon by Rafsanjani that could herald a new stage in the political drama that has followed the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He began the sermon with a discussion of the Koran, saying he would raise the issue of the country's political troubles later in the afternoon.
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Iran opposition leader, wife visit slain man's family: Via Los Angeles Times.

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife are swarmed by supporters near the home. His plans to form a political front win the backing of powerful cleric Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and a key conservative.

Reporting from Beirut -- Iran's leading opposition figure and his wife emerged Tuesday night to pay their respects to the family of a 19-year-old man slain in the nation's recent weeks of violence, according to witnesses and reports on news websites.

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his popular wife, Zahra Rahnavard, visited the family of Sohrab Aarabi in Tehran, paying tribute to the teenager whose death and whose mother's weeks-long quest to find him have emerged as symbols of the protest movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Photographs posted on the Gooya website showed Mousavi and Rahnavard swarmed by supporters as they approached the family's home in the city's north-central Apadana district.
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Iran protests: Clashes erupt in streets of Tehran: Via Los Angeles Times.

Over 1,000 demonstrators gather in Tehran, continuing to protest the June 12 presidential election. Security forces fire tear gas and beat protesters. Many people wear masks to hide their identities.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Violent clashes erupted today in downtown Tehran between more than a thousand determined young men and women chanting, "Death to the dictator" and "God is great" and security forces wielding truncheons.

The screams of a woman being beaten could be heard from nearby buildings, a witness said. Business owners could be seen hustling protesters into their buildings to shield them from plainclothes officers and anti-riot police who fired tear gas canisters.
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Iran's Revolutionary Guard acknowledges taking a bigger role in nation's security: Via Los Angeles Times.

Calling the move 'a new phase of the revolution,' leaders insist there is no room for compromise on President Ahmadinejad's reelection.

Reporting from Beirut -- The top leaders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard publicly acknowledged they had taken over the nation's security during the post-election unrest and warned late Sunday, in a threat against a reformist wave led by Mir-Hossein Mousavi, that there was no middle ground in the ongoing dispute over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the elite military branch, said the guard's takeover of the nation's security had led to "a revival of the revolution."

"These events put us in a new stage of the revolution and political struggles, and all of us must fully comprehend its dimensions," he said at a Sunday press conference, according to reports that surfaced today.
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Lawyer for British Embassy worker jailed in Iran is optimistic: Via Los Angeles Times.

Reporting from Beirut — The lawyer for a British Embassy employee in Tehran arrested and under investigation for subterfuge today refuted reports that his client had been formally charged, saying he was optimistic the Iranian national would be released in the coming days.

Authorities today also blocked access to the website of a pro-reform group of seminary scholars in the holy city of Qom that has joined other reformist clergy in sharply criticizing last month's vote as authorities continued a crackdown against supporters of failed presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who has alleged massive fraud.

And the head of the judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi today has issued a directive to Iranian courts allowing them to sentence anyone working with satellite television channels or Internet networking websites to up to 10 years in jail, according to several news agencies.
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