The Iranian mullahcracy has clamped down on foreign reporters while they struggle to contain widespread unrest following a botched national election.  The BBC reports that journalists now have to ask permission before leaving their offices to cover anything, and that the government has barred them from covering any unauthorized demonstrations:

Authorities in Iran have announced sweeping new restrictions on foreign media, effectively confining journalists to their offices. …

The new restrictions on foreign media require journalists to obtain explicit permission before leaving the office to cover any story.

Journalists have also been banned from attending or reporting on any “unauthorised” demonstration – and it is unclear which if any of the protests are formally authorised.

Press cards have been declared invalid.

Allahpundit has done yeoman work keeping up with Twitter communications inside Iran, one of the few independent channels for updates on the Iranian regime’s actions at the moment.  (Follow him on Twitter here.)  The mullahs have tried to disrupt Twitter by either attempting to trace the members sending updates, shutting down proxies, or sending disinformation themselves on the network.  They understand that the regime has lost a lot of credibility, and that the more images and reports come out about the uprising, the bigger it will get.

The mullahs say that those who died during the protests met their deaths at the hands of “thugs”.  Here’s a video of the thugs in action:

This is why the foreign media have been confined to quarters.