Decision day for democracy in Iran

Iran's Supreme Leader dramatically intervened in his country's political crisis yesterday by demanding an end to the democracy demonstrations and warning of a violent reaction if they continued. Ayatollah Khamenei also accused "treacherous" Britain of leading a Western conspiracy to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

But protesters said they would attend today's demonstrations, come what may. "If the crowd is large enough, there's nothing they can do," Bahrooz, an engineer, told The Times. "If they start killing people, that would bring about the fall of the regime."

Following Ayatollah Khamenei's speech, President Barack Obama made a rare comment on Iran's post-election crisis, although critics — including his former election rival, Republican Senator John McCain — say he did not go far enough. "I'm very concerned, based on the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching," Obama said in an interview with CBS News.

Among the many ways the world has of watching events in Iran is the flickr photo-sharing network. The #iranelection page has some fascinating photos of the demonstrations taken inside the country.