February 14, after a year of docility, tens of thousands poured onto the streets despite massive crackdown. Iran’s ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is far more repressive than his counterparts Presidents Ben Ali and Mubarak. Khamenei also possesses coercive apparatuses far more violent, fanatic, and loyal than those available to Ben Ali and Mubarak. Therefore, one should expect more protests in Iran, and more violent repression of Iranian protestors. When and how the tipping point would occur in Iran is hard to predict.
