( CNN ) -- Despite his threats of `` consequences '' and the subsequent beatings and shooting deaths by government agents , the open protests on Iran 's streets by hundreds of thousands of people have dented the shield of invincibility of Iran 's Supreme religious Leader , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , say sources in Iran . Riot police patrol a Tehran street earlier this week . Chants of `` Death to Khamenei '' broke a state-imposed , and a self-imposed absolute prohibition on criticizing a leader believed to be wielding the wisdom and authority of God himself . But right now , the massive network of Iran 's intelligence agents , Revolutionary Guard , paramilitary Basij , and police of all sorts , are cracking down . Sources say they are also going house to house , through email accounts and web postings , through cell phone calls and SMS text messages ( when the system is allowed to stay up ) and even to taxi agencies whose drivers hoisted Mir Hossein Moussavi posters during the election campaign . They are rounding people up and , as it was chillingly put to me , in Iran 's prisons `` we have room for all of them . '' In addition protestors are being paraded `` confessing and repenting '' on Iranian state TV . The government also claims to be arresting `` foreign agents '' accused of stirring up the protests . Sources say the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) , aligned with Ayatollah Khamenei , plucked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from total obscurity as presidential candidate in 2005 , in order to hold the line against `` reform '' in the country after eight years of the reformist president Mohammad Khatami . Sources in the Iranian government and well-placed analysts inside the country Say the IRGC has taken up influential positions in many major sectors of Iranian society , such as the oil industry , finance , transport , construction and other businesses and politics . Iran has been `` increasingly radicalized over the last four years , '' one told me . While there are divisions within the clerical establishment and in parliament , sources tell me that for now that does not threaten the ruling establishment . I was told the weekend arrests of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani 's daughter and other relatives , and their swift release , were a warning to Rafsanjani , who backed Moussavi in the election . So far the powerful mullahs , monitoring it all from the holy city of Qom , are mostly quiet . And finally , for now , while Moussavi has startled the system with his willingness to press the election case , he is also considered , at this moment , no Ayatollah Khomeini . Nowhere near as charismatic and powerful as the leader of the successful revolution in 1979 . Sources say Moussavi is not formally arrested or under house arrest . However his movements and words are `` controlled '' by security and intelligence officials . So in effect there is no visible leader for the street protesters today -- unlike 1979 , when Khomeini led from exile . Sources say all this could change if mass demonstrations hit the streets and simply remain there all over the country , if the security forces refuse to expand the crackdown , or if people go on nationwide strike , like they did in 1978-79 . As long as the streets and squares remain blanketed by security , they are mostly clear of protesters . Right now , chants of Allahu-Akbar still resound from the rooftops at night . Although residents say they seem to be dying down in some neighborhoods . Even the honking horns and flashing headlights are fading from the traffic . At this moment , however , it is impossible to know how this contest of wills -- and powers -- will play out .
Amanpour : Ayatollah 's credibility dented by huge mass protests in Tehran . Police say security forces are monitoring activists ' emails , SMS messages . Iran : Government officials could lose their control in face of mass protests .