All Blog Posts from World Watch

Iranian opposition protesters clashed with security forces in Tehran Friday in largest showing of strength since the regime cracked down on election demonstrations last month.

Sparked by the sermon of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric widely believed to be sympathetic to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered, chanted and marched through Tehran's streets.

Here are some images and videos of the day's events:

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Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the senior dissident cleric in Iran's religious establishment, has issued his harshest condemnation of the Islamic Republic's leadership since the disputed June 12 election.

Mondtazeri never names Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei directly in his remarks, but he has long been an outspoken opponent of both Khamenei and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Montazeri says "those who have lost, religiously and reasonably, the credibility for serving the public, are automatically dismissed, and the continuation of their work has no legitimacy."

The Grand Ayatollah also says Iranians have a religious right and duty to protest their leaders, if those leaders violate the tenets of Islam by usurping power.

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Iran's state-run TV station is reporting "new revelations" in the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old music student who's death fueled the opposition movement and swept across Internet social networks as an emblem of Iranian resistance.

According to the report by Press TV, Neda was killed "in an ally away from the scene of clashes."

The network quoted the man who allegedly drove her to hospital as saying her death appeared to be "highly suspicious," as there were no police, Basij militia, or any other Iranian security forces nearby.

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Track The Latest Coverage Of Iran's Election Upheaval.

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There are reports that Iran's clerical establishment is weighing the option of replacing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with a panel of religious officials over his contentious role in the election dispute.

Britain's International Business Times, citing Al Arabiya TV, says the country's powerful 86-member Assembly of Experts is split in its support for Khamenei and current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The report suggests the Experts have met secretly in Iran's holy city of Qom to discuss a political compromise to the week-and-a-half old political unrest which followed the announcement of disputed presidential election results. Khamenei has backed Ahmadinejad as the land-slide winner of the vote, but opposition candidates claim the election outcome was rigged.

The Business Times says the clerics are considering a complete change in the structure of the 30-year-old Islamic Republic's government — replacing the supreme leader with a panel of senior clerics, and forcing President Ahmadinejad out of power.

That would be a decidedly dramatic upheaval, and CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer explains that a more likely outcome might see a deal struck which allows Ahmadinejad and Khamenei to hold onto their seats — at least for now.

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In what could be a huge development, Iran's religious leaders are reportedly discussing the creation of an alternative form of government that would replace the supreme leader with a collective leadership body, according to Al Arabiya news channel.

Iran installed a supreme leader following the 1979 Islamic revolution and only two men have held the post – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current leader. The stability of that system has come under question as protests of the disputed June 12 presidential election have turned violent.

Clerics in Qom, an important Iranian religious center, and members of the Assembly of Experts are considering changes to the current government model in order to restore political stability, sources in Qom told Al Arabiya.

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A heaving sea of the faithful packed Tehran University's mosque, enthralled to find themselves so close to Iran's holiest man - Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Thousands who couldn't squeeze in listened outside in the surrounding streets.

All week, Iran's state media have been trying to convince people that the political unrest was incited by foreign plotters, including Americans, so we chose to observe from a quieter side street.

On the face of it, the Friday prayer ceremony is a religious occasion. But in spite of thousands of the devout who came to hear the Supreme Leader, everybody knows this is a pivotal political moment.

"The results of an election come from the ballot box - not the street," the Supreme Leader told the crowd.

He defended President Ahmadinejad's landslide win last Friday, saying, "Our system has no room for fraud."

Click below to watch all of CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer's report from Iran.

Like everyone paying attention to the epic political power struggle going on in Iran, we'd heard there was to be an opposition rally in the afternoon.

Then we heard there wasn't, because it had been declared illegal by the Interior Ministry. Anyone who marched could expect to face the riot police and their truncheons… or worse.

Then, suddenly, there was. The word flowed in digital streams from cell phone to cell phone, computer to computer — and, of course, from mouth to mouth.

Now. Come. Everyone. We're marching from the University to Freedom Square.

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Speaking at a conference in support of Palestinians, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called Israel a "cancerous tumor" on the verge of collapse.

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The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper reports that President Obama's administration is preparing to send a letter to the Iranian people aimed at setting the tone for a new relationship and the first direct talks in decades between the two countries. Obama's staff have reportedly been working on the letter since the day he was elected and there are currently three drafts under consideration.

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