BRKG WHITE HOUSE :"IRAN IS THE NEXT"; IRAN OPPOSITION PREPARES MASSIVE PROTESTS FOR THIS MONDAY

Iran Girds for Anti-State Protests
Planned Demonstrations Cloud Official Fete for Islamic Revolution, Amid Executions and Arrests.

Iran's pro-democracy Green Movement has called people to the streets in solidarity with protestors in Egypt and Tunisia, as the call gained momentum on blogs and social networking sites, with over 30,000 people pledging to participate on one protest group's Facebook page.

Iranian youth activists got a nod from Wael Ghonim, the Google executive and Egyptian protest leader, who showed up on Tahrir Square wearing the signature green wrist band of Iran's opposition.

"I tell all Iranians that you should learn from Egyptians because we learned from you," Mr. Ghonim told an Iranian human rights group on Thursday. His comments and picture were widely posted on opposition websites and blogs.

In Tehran and other big Iranian cities this week residents scribbled on paper money, "End executions, stop dictatorship," and spray painted "Tahrir Square"—the central location of recent Egyptian protests—on traffic signs on Tehran's Azadi square, the site of Iran's anti-government protests in 2009.

Word of the Monday protests spread in buses and taxes, and one Tehran resident said neighbors buzzed each other's doorbells to tip them off.

"We called for a demonstration to show our movement is alive and to stop the Iranian government's propaganda abuse of pro-democracy movements in the region," said opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi through an intermediary.

[link to online.wsj.com]

After Mubarak resigns, White House says Iran could be next
By Sam Youngman - 02/11/11 05:29 PM ET

The White House said Friday that Iran is scared it could be next after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave up power.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, briefing on his last day on the job, hailed the Egyptian protesters and said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government is “quite frankly scared of the will of its people.”

Gibbs said that if the Iranian government is as confident in the righteousness of its power it “would have nothing to fear” from mass protests like those that have gripped Egypt.


“They're not confident,” Gibbs said. “They’re scared.”

[link to thehill.com]