Even as the policy debate has intensified over Iran, the struggle of Iranians to advance democracy and human rights under increasingly repressive conditions is too often being overlooked.

As they watch the fall of longtime Arab dictators, some Iranians are beginning to wonder whether nonviolent civil resistance is a viable strategy against a regime that has not hesitated to employ overwhelming violence and intimidation against peaceful protesters.

With popular protest movements engulfing the Middle East, Iran’s opposition movement hopes to rekindle the momentum that brought millions of Iranians to the streets in the summer of 2009.