If purported Iran expert, Reza Aslan, is correct about a compromise deal being in the works in Iran, no sign of that was evident in the message during the important Friday sermon from Tehran. According to the Washington Post:

The sermon at Tehran University by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami was broadcast live on state television, amplifying the ominous tone the state has adopted this week towards the tens of thousands of demonstrators who have massed in the streets to question the results of the June 12 presidential balloting. The government has deemed the gatherings illegal.

"I want the judiciary to . . . punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson," said Khatami, an influential cleric close to Iran's supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Based on Islamic law, whoever confronts the Islamic state . . . should be convicted as mohareb . . . They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely."

Read the full article here.