IRAN UPDATE – AT 8:48 P.M. ET:  The Iranian regime survived February 11, which was looked to in the West as the day when democracy demonstrators would flood the streets.

It continues to be difficult to get good information out of Iran, but it appears that the regime's early attempts to suppress the opposition, which we reported early this morning, succeeded during the entire day.  The regime is intact.  As for the jolt that the West was supposed to receive on February 11th, that apparently did refer to Ahmadinejad's announcement that Iran was now a "nuclear state," whatever that means.

The strongest American statement came from the normally marshmallowish State Department, which declared that the putting down of democracy demonstrations by the Iranian security services further delegitimizes the regime.  No such statement came from the White House, leading Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman to express dismay over the president's silence.   They should know by now.  Democracy isn't a major cause for Barack Obama.  It ranks below the drive for clearer rules for Monopoly. 

Charles Krauthammer pointed out the contrast between the president's insistence on calling Iran "the Islamic Republic of Iran," and the chants of some demonstrators, calling their country "The Republic of Iran."  The president is, as his his habit, far too deferential.

There has been some hope in the West that the regime could be toppled, and replaced by a much more reasonable group.  That hope seems to be fading tonight, putting the focus on sanctions as the last means we have of, possibly, forcing Iran to alter its nuclear program – the last means, that is, short of military action.

February 11, 2010