Inside the Iranian opposition, from a rapper to the Shah's son

T he banner was unfurled over a Tehran bridge by night, with a message scrawled in spray paint. 'Those who experienced the Iran-Iraq war,' it read, 'demand no war again.'
The dissidents behind this modest protest a few months ago sought to cover their tracks, wary of the unforgiving punishment that befalls critics of the Islamic regime.
But they had decided to take the risk, one organiser in Iran said, because they 'believe Iran is very close to opening a new regional war, which will cost Iran and all Iranians … Enough is enough. If you don't take risks, you can't expect rewards.'
That moment feared by dissidents, who are mostly students — just like the ones that helped Ayatollah Khomeini overthrow the Shah in 1979 — has now come. Across the region, and above all in Israel and the US, the question is being asked as to how many such dissidents there are and what risk they pose to the Islamic Republic's clerical leaders.

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