Iran's voice abroad has also started to speak out — Mohammed-Reza Heydari, Iran's consul in Oslo, recently resigned his post and denounced the government after its bloody suppression of the opposition's demonstrations during Ashura. He could be the first of many prominent defectors, since he has urged others to do the same.

It is unclear how far the regime genuinely believes its claims that the West is responsible for the events of the last seven months, or whether it is just a ploy to tarnish the opposition by painting them as lackeys. However, there certainly are elements within the regime that suffer ‘Uncle Napoleon Syndrome' and believe that the West is encouraging a velvet revolution.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said that the current situation is an Iranian affair and that the U.S. will refrain from ‘meddling'. Indeed, this view has some merit.  An active, highly visible Western involvement with the opposition to promote regime change could undermine the opposition's credibility and lend credence to the regime's assertion of a Western-inspired plot. However, silence could be even worse.  As leader of the free world, Obama has a moral obligation to signal to both the opposition and the regime that the world supports the plea for freedom. His overly cautious tone thus far is not sending that message.

Since the demonstrations are now as much about the mullahs' regime as they are about June's fraudulent elections, empowering the opposition is not just a moral obligation but a strategic one. The Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index ranks Iran's personal freedom at 101 (out of 104 countries), surpassing only Zimbabwe, Jordan, and Pakistan. Despite this poor assessment, the Prosperity Index has attracted tremendous interest inside Iran.  The second highest number of visits to the Prosperity Index website from any country since December has been from Iran (out of 171 countries), suggesting that the Iranian people know all too well the difficult conditions they are in, and want to find a better life for themselves. Western support of Eastern European dissidents during the Cold War is an example of the strategic gains that can be brought from supporting opponents of tyrannical regimes.

The opposition may lack leadership and structure, but the fact that it has not only survived but has also gained momentum, is its biggest achievement. In the 30 years since the revolution, the Islamic Republic has never endured such schisms or been more vulnerable than it is today and the regime's desperate attempt to silence the reformists and to paint them as stooges is indicative of its distress over its unprecedented weakness. This should serve as a sign of its despondency to the West and it is with this realisation that all those who seek freedom for Iran should take solace.

The greatest hope we have for Iran is democratic change for and by the people. The memory of the chaos in the streets of Iran that eventually led to the fall of the Shah is not such a distant one. Whether the current turmoil will also end in a revolution is unclear, but what is clear is that the Green Movement is determined and its actions will unquestionably have a lasting effect on the politics of the Islamic Republic.