MORE GOOD NEWS FROM IRAN:

Several hundred students and onlookers gathered at a Tehran University dormitory in the early hours of Friday chanting “freedom, freedom” and “death to Khamenei” in a reference to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The protesters have also vented their anger at moderate President Mohammad Khatami, whom they accuse of failing to deliver promised reforms after six years in government.

Washington, which accuses Iran of building nuclear arms and sponsoring terrorism, has hailed the protests which have drawn crowds of up to 3,000 people in the last three days.

“It’s our hope that the voice of the Iranian people and their call for democracy and the rule of law will be heard and transform Iran into a force for stability in the region,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday.

Analysts say the protests, while small, reflect widespread frustration among Iran’s disproportionately youthful population and are likely to continue in the run-up to the July 9 anniversary of violent student protests in 1999.

The mullahs are nervous. That’s not as good as them being, say, dead . . . but it’s a start.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis has lots more on doings in Iran.