Reader2: I don't agree with some of your points - I think Obama is doing exactly what he should in not giving the Ayatollahs rhetorical ammunition to add to their bullets, and an internally-generated "democratic" Iran would validate Obama's and a majority of the world's hopes for this area as much as any neo-con's. It would certainly beat a trumped-up Bush/Cheney invasion/oil grab, and maybe kill a million less people too.

However, I appreciate your arguments, which are heartfelt and reasoned, befitting such a stunning event. The Iranians are taking supreme risks for the freedoms we are blessed with, and which inform every comment and cry made daily in our amazingly open forums, including these pages. They deserve our support and our best thoughts and ideas.

For GLR - to borrow another Ghandi-phrase: “You must be the blogging insanity you wish to see in the world.”

I do wish Obama had started with more poetry, less prose, but I trust his instincts and intentions, and he has given the Ayatollahs little to work with. Bottom line - there's not a country on earth whose people wouldn't prefer to control their own destinies, and peacefully. All populations wake up to being manipulated, albeit fitfully and sometimes when we (and perhaps even the CIA) least expect it.

Thank goodness for Chinese faxes 20 years ago, and youtube/twitter today. Ahmadinejad is a cheap propped-up gunslinger; lying, fundamentalist government is the culprit, in Iran and pretty much anywhere.

I don't know fully what the "green faction" wants, but I do feel strongly that a massive uprising such as this doesn't come from nowhere. The voters know, in their guts, when they've been blatantly hoodwinked, much better than anyone else, with or without media proof.

They know and they're acting. That's extraordinary - way beyond arguments about one regime or the other. They don't want their votes stolen. And they don't want to be lied to.

The Ayatollahs are making a huge mistake by transparently doing both.

'DAVID', central Tehran, by 'phone

I've come back from work early because I heard there might be a march to mourn Neda, the girl who was shot dead on Saturday. I live close to Haft-e Tir Square in central Tehran, and my work is just 15 minutes drive away so I wanted to get home as fast as I could. Police were tapping batons against their legs, it's so intimidating. On every corner and by every set of traffic lights there were half a dozen riot police with truncheons and shields. They stood there, tapping their batons against their legs - it's so intimidating. There were no demonstrators. I can hear a helicopter flying overhead. I've been pretty depressed since Friday afternoon and hearing that lunatic's sermon [Friday prayers addressed by Ayatollah Khamenei]. The last demonstration I went on was last Wednesday. After 10pm you start hearing the roars from the rooftops. I went up a couple of times to shout "Allaho Akbar" even though I'm Christian! My mother told me not to bother and to come down. I hope as long as these shouts continue on on a nightly basis, the world will understand our thirst and hunger for change.

Ramin, Tehran, by 'phone

I voted for Mir Hossein Mousavi, but I wasn't fundamentally anti-Ahmadinejad in the first place. He's made some mistakes, but this isn't about the candidate now, it's about what happened after the vote. The election was an absolute coup d'etat. It wasn't even vote rigging, it was a pre-planned coup. That's why I'm disappointed and angry; I don't want a return to the coup days. I thought the system the Islamic Republic had created allowed movement for reform. But the so-called election took away that hope. I think there's a huge sense of disappointment and rage. You can hear this at 10pm, when you hear people shouting from the bottom of their hearts on the rooftops. You can also hear their depression.

Emails sent to BBC News

I think the reason there are fewer demonstrations in Esfahan and other smaller cities is that the people can be easily identified by the Basijis and the police and they will be hunted down later on. I took part in some of the demonstrations and realized that - even in large numbers - unarmed people cannot resist the tear gas and the batons the police and the Basijis are using against them. A few days ago I saw a young boy being beaten really hard by five or six Basijis till he fainted, with blood coming out of his nose and mouth. Hossein, Esfahan

We Iranians do know that statements like "The West is supporting the demonstrators ..." are an excuse for our governments to extinguish the protests. For 30 years now they have been talking about the "enemy", but now the world can see that the Iranian government looks at its own people as enemy. Omid, Kerman, Iran

I took part in most of these demonstrations to protest against the largely fraud in presidential election. Before this event I had great trust on the power in Iran and i had respect for ayatollah Khamenei. But after the last Friday speech of Khamenei I lost all my hope from the structure of power in Iran and I became separate from government for the first time in my life. I am 30 years old and I took part in almost all elections in Iran up to now. but at the moment I don't trust Iran government and leader and all the structure of power in Iran. Vahid B, Tehran

I am a bit scared. But I think we should keep going. We go to rooftops for shouting Allaho Akbar because we have no options. If we go to the streets they kill us. But I know many brave people go to the streets without fear of death. God bless all those martyrs. Shalimar, Tehran