[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran on Saturday marks one year since the disputed presidential election returned hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, with his rivals uncompromising in their continued opposition to his rule.However opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have called off plans to stage fresh anti-government demonstrations over safety concerns as the authorities vowed to crack down on any new protests.
The evolution of Iran's year-old opposition movement has been a study in indecision. Should it risk bloodshed and take to the streets? Is the aim to topple the ruling clerics or push for gradual reforms?
Clues about the direction -- caution over confrontation, Web posts over street rallies -- took on sharper relief Friday, on the eve of the first anniversary of the disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad.
The security forces used deadly force to quell the massive street demonstrations that erupted after the results of the June 12 vote last year -- a poll which the opposition charged had been massively rigged.
Street protests against Ahmadinejad have not now been held for months, and Tehran's hardline governor renewed warnings on Friday against any attempts to stage demonstrations on Saturday.
A top Iranian police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, said Friday any protests on the anniversary would be "confronted severely," according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
Tehran governor, Morteza Tamadon, was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as calling the opposition a "sedition current" seeking to confront the ruling system.
"A year later, it's clear that the hard-liners have won decisively through massive repression, deploying basij armed with clubs on motorcycles to curb crowds, jailing thousands of protesters, and torturing and executing some of them," wrote Juan Cole, director of the University of Michigan's Center for South Asian Studies and a frequent analyst and commentator on Iranian affairs.