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A supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi hides her face using a poster of him during an election rally in Tehran, Iran, in 2009. Ben Curtis / AP file

Amid a crackdown by police, the protests ultimately came to naught. But two years later, opposition lodestar Mousavi was placed under house arrest after calling for protests in solidarity with the pro-democracy Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia.

Mehdi Karroubi, another reformist who ran in 2005 and 2009 and also challenged the outcome, was also detained, along with their families.

Little has been seen or heard of Mousavi since, save from a photograph of him lying in a hospital bed in 2014 following reports he was suffering from a heart condition.

But he lives large in the minds of many of

Iran's current president, the centrist Hassan Rouhani, told his supporters this week that he would "kiss the supreme leader's hands 10 times if necessary in order to free political prisoners."

He was referring to Mousavi.

The detainee's name has also been invoked by Rouhani's supporters, who have chanted "Ya Hossein, Ya Hossein" in support of Mousavi. Their cheers could also be seen as defiance of the supreme leader and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, who are said to back Rouhani's conservative opponent, Ebrahim Raisi.

At

Layla Daryafarghi, a 19-year-old journalism student, was 11 during the 2009 crackdown. She said she came to the Rouhani rally because she wanted to speak out for freedom, to support Mousavi, and also to support Mohammad Khatami, the reformer who was president of Iran from 1997 to 2005.

"We all want to show that we want to have freedom. We want to say to all the world, we love our country and we want it to be free," said Daryafarghi. "For me it's for Mr. Khatami and for Mr. Mousavi, but I think that all of [us] think [Rouhani] is going to do something different."

She added that she wanted the current centrist to govern for another term.

"Four years was not enough for the things he said he wanted to do," she said. "He wants more time to show us he can do anything."

Women flash the victory sign as they wait to cast their ballots in the Iranian presidential elections at a polling station in Tehran on Friday. ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH / EPA

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Iran Election: Mousavi Looms Over Vote Years After Detention ... - NBCNews.com

The Iranian regime is believed to be operating polling stations across the United States ahead of the countrys election on Friday, an effort that appears to violate U.S. laws barring Iranian agents from operating on American soil in this manner, according to sources apprised of the situation.

There are nearly 50 such polling stations where Iranian expats can vote across the United States, including in major American cities such as New York City and Washington, D.C., according to a list of polling stationspublishedonline.

Iranian polling stations have already beenshut downin Canada and calls are mounting for the Trump administration to take similar action, according to a White Housepetitioncreated by Iraniandissident groupsthat call on President Donald Trump to "shut down illegal Iranian regime election sites in the U.S."

As Iran gears up to hold its presidential election on Fridaya process critics havedescribedas corruptIranian regime opponents are warning that the polling sites will be staffed by agents of the Islamic Republic. This may be a violation of U.S. laws barring regime officials from traveling across Americawithout explicit permission from the State Department.

At least 27 polling sites appear to have been set up across the Eastern Seaboard,accordingto information published online, withmoreacross the country.

U.S. law prohibits agents of the Iranian regime from traveling 25 miles outside of New York City and Washington, D.C., without explicit permission from the government. Additionally, sanctions prohibit U.S. individuals from conducting business with representatives of the Iranian government.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.

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Iranian regime agents operating polling stations across US, sources say - Fox News

New York Times

Iran Has Its Own Hard-Line Populist, and He's on the Rise New York Times TEHRAN For months now, a black-turbaned cleric from eastern Iran has been campaigning in provincial cities, presenting himself as an anticorruption hero as he rallies support among the poor and the pious in an underdog effort to win the presidency ... Iran election: Angry voters in heartlands of Shia theocracy hope to derail Rouhani's progressive projectThe Independent When Iran Heads To The Polls, A Stark If Limited Choice AwaitsNPR What's really at stake in Iran's presidential electionWashington Post Aljazeera.com -Slate Magazine -CNN all 284 news articles »

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Iran Has Its Own Hard-Line Populist, and He's on the Rise - New York Times

The US military said the strikes were aimed at stopping the militia advance and protect fighters it has sponsored throughout the civil war. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

US jets have attacked a convoy of Iranian-backed militiamen in south-eastern Syria in the first clash between the American military and forces loyal to Tehran since the US military returned to the region almost three years ago.

The airstrikes occurred near the Syrian town of al-Tanf, where Syrian opposition forces backed by the US have been under recent attack by Syrian and Russian jets near the main road linking Damascus to Baghdad. The militias, made up mainly of Iraqi Shia fighters, had been advancing towards the base throughout the week.

The US military said the strikes were aimed at stopping the militia advance and protect fighters it has sponsored throughout the civil war and in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.

The clash underscores the complexity of the fast-changing battlefields of Syria and Iraq, where a splintered opposition is struggling to hold ground, Isis faces military defeat, and forces allied to the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, are in the ascendant.

Opposition units in the area continue to be backed by the CIA. They were raised to fight Isis, but have also been positioned as a bulwark against Iran-backed forces that have crossed from Iraq and been instrumental in recent gains made across Syria by the Assad regime.

A convoy going down the road didnt respond to numerous ways for it to be warned off from getting too close to coalition forces in al-Tanf, said a US defence official in Washington. Then there was finally a strike against a lead portion of that movement.

Defense secretary said that the attack did not mean that the US would be getting more involved Syrias civil war.

We are not increasing our role in the Syrian civil war, but we will defend our troops, Mattis said. We will defend ourselves (if) people take aggressive steps against us. And thats been a going-in policy of ours for a long time.

An opposition leader in al-Tanf said several thousand militiamen were trying to clear anti-Assad forces from the highway, in order to push west towards Mayedin and Deir Azzour, two crucial legs of a land route that Iran is trying to clear towards Damascus.

The Guardian reported earlier this week that senior Iraqi and Iranian officials had recently moved the course of the corridor about 140 miles south of its original route because of a strengthened US presence along its original course, through Syrias Kurdish north-east.

Earlier on Thursday, Irans Fars news agency, which is linked to the countrys powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps, claimed 3,000 members of Hezbollah had been moved to al-Tanf to combat a US plot.

Though they remain central to the US-led campaign to defeat Isis in eastern Syria and western Iraq, the forces sponsored by Washington are becoming central to US fears that Iran is finalising a corridor that would secure influence from Tehran to southern Lebanon.

US commanders are planning to move forces north from the Jordanian border and south from the Kurdish north towards Deir Azzour, one of the last bastions of Isis in Syria. The planned push, however, is being viewed by Iran as a threat.

It didnt start off about Iran, and it still isnt totally about them, said a senior European military official. But it is becoming that way.

On the eve of a visit to Riyadh, where he has vowed to reset relations with Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump has taken a hardline stance against Iran, and the Assad regime, which Tehran heavily backs.

Riyadh has been pushing for a reset of bilateral relations, which winds back a US pivot towards Iran under the Obama administration in favour of renewed ties between Washington and Riyadh that had been deeply strained during the former presidents second term.

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US jets attack Iran-backed militiamen in south-eastern Syria - The Guardian

New York Times

Forget Watergate. Think Iran-Contra. New York Times The reported effort by President Trump to pressure the F.B.I. director to drop the investigation into Russian influence over his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has provoked cries of obstruction of justice. Trump critics are ... Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassadorWashington Post Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn InvestigationNew York Times all 7,734 news articles »

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Forget Watergate. Think Iran-Contra. - New York Times