Compare the pattern with Nazi Germany and FDR

When FDR said nothing about persecution of Jews in Germany, things got worse. This is the pattern for totalitarian regimes: they keep upping the repression so long as there are no repercussions, even diplomatically. Note the parallel:
http://tinyurl.com/l647pr
Arrests of Rafsanjani kin show Iran clerics split AP By NASSER KARIMI and WILLIAM J. KOLE,TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's government said Sunday it arrested the daughter and four other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the country's most powerful men, in a move that exposed a rift among the ruling Islamic clerics over the disputed presidential election. State media also reported at least 10 more deaths, bringing the official toll for a week of confrontations to at least 17. State television inside Iran said 10 were killed and 100 injured in clashes Saturday between demonstrators contesting the result of the June 12 election and black-clad police wielding truncheons, tear gas and water cannons...and members of the Basij militia **( in plain clothes and wielding axes, knives, razors, sticks, etc)** took up positions in the afternoon on major streets and squares, including the site of Saturday's clashes. ... State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other unidentified family members were arrested late Saturday. On Sunday evening, it said the four others had been released but that Hashemi remained in detention. However, Iran's ambassador to France Seyed Mehdi Miraboutalebi said on France's RFI radio that Hashemi had been released.****But, of course, it was demonstrated that she COULD be picked up again at any time. ****...After Hashemi's appearance, hard-line students gathered...and accused her of treason, state radio reported....Rafsanjani, 75, heads two powerful institutions. One of them, the cleric-run Assembly of Experts, has the power to monitor and remove the supreme leader, the country's most powerful figure. The second is the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council, which can block legislation. The assembly has never publicly reprimanded the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since he succeeded Islamic Revolution founder Aytollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. But the current crisis has rattled the once-untouchable stature of the supreme leader with protesters openly defying his orders to leave the streets. Underscoring how the protesters have become emboldened despite the regime's repeated and ominous warnings, witnesses said some shouted "Death to Khamenei!" at Saturday's demonstrations — another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the virtually limitless authority of the supreme leader.
Rafsanjani was deeply critical of Ahmadinejad during the presidential campaign and has the potential to lead an internal challenge to Khamenei.****He is hardly absolutely a moderate, however, and authored the statement that he "was willing to lose half of Iran in order to destroy Israel."**** His daughter's arrest came as something of a surprise: In his Friday sermon to tens of thousands of worshippers, Khamenei praised Rafsanjani as one of the architects of the revolution and an effective political figure for many years. Khamenei acknowledged, however, that the two have "many differences of opinion."
Khamenei has accused foreign media of making "malicious" attempts to portray a schism among the ruling clerics. At Friday's prayers, he acknowledged that all four presidential candidates "have differences, but all of them belong to the system."
Iran's regime continued to impose a blackout on the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution....a week of astonishing resistance to hard-line Ahmadinejad and Khamenei....scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital....some seriously injured protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest....Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions,"...State media also reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of Khomeini on Saturday killed the attacker and injured five other people....Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, Drewery Dyke,..."In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off." Iran has imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report....23 journalists were arrested over the past week. The British Broadcasting Corp....Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country. ...The U.S.-based newsmagazine Newsweek said its journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested Sunday morning and had not been heard from....Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki...rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about ...voting irregularities...accused France of taking "treacherous and unjust approaches." But he saved his most pointed criticism for Britain, raising a litany of historical grievances...drew an indignant response from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who "categorically" denied his country was meddling....German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Iran anew to conduct a complete and transparent recount...President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people."...has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach. Republican senators criticized Obama on Sunday for not taking a tougher public stand in support of the protesters, with one saying the president had been "timid and passive." Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday,...an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran....Khamenei sternly warned Mousavi and his backers to all off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting." Delivering a sermon at Friday prayers attended by tens of thousands, Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad, calling the result "an absolute victory" that reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end their street protests...Mousavi did not directly reply to the ultimatum...denied reports that he had proclaimed himself ready for martyrdom on Saturday...Mousavi's Web site also said statements that Mousavi was preparing for death were inaccurate.