The dictators in charge of Iran can machine-gun entire crowds of people if it so desires, and there's not a damned thing the people can do about it. For one thing, private gun ownership is illegal in Iran.
If that kind of order goes out, then the only hope protestors have is if the people with the machine guns refuse to fire.
There really isn't much we can do to help the people of Iran overthrow the regime, either. It's an internal matter and even George W. Bush--who was all about "regime change" in Iraq--hesitated to make a military move against Iran.
It's a fact, though, that the Iranian people don't like the government they have, and they have not liked that government for a long time. The riots and protests of the past week or so happened because the governmental vote fraud was the last straw, the final insult that led a simmering resentment to boil over.
It's also a fact that if Iran's dictators use mass murder to quell the uprising it may temporarily subdue the effort...but the people won't forget and it will only make the end of the islamist regime that much more horrible when it happens.
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Work last night was excruciating. It was fricking hot in the store and I had to unload the truck. Everything hurts.
On the plus side, I made it, and now I'm going to bed.