The photos above are screen shots from an IRINN video pan of the female half of the sexually segregated audience as it listened to a speech delivered by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 21 March. The photos show people holding up signs and pictures for the camera. They are there to hear a speech, but they are also expecting to be photographed and have been equipped with the appropriate props. Some are holding a collage photo of Khamenei and Khomeini, as if to say "I think whatever these guys think." Others are holding signs that say "nuclear energy is our indisputable right." The green sign on the right in the top picture is the charming, ever popular "death to America." The diagonal banner at the top right of the two screens says "Year of the Noble Prophet," referring to the Iranian year 1385 which began on the day of speech and has been given the name by Ayatollah Khamenei.

The speech was misrepresented in most American press articles I saw about it; these articles seized on Khamenei's statement that he approved the talks about Iraq with the US. This was entirely out of context, since most of the speech was full of spite and vitriol against the US. Even the remark about approving the talks was hedged with "Our view is that America should get out of Iraq and put an end to creating insecurity and provoking ethnic groups so this country will have security and be able to manage its own affairs, but if the talks are going to be an opening for the clever Americans and a continuation of their bullying, then talks with the Americans about conditions in Iraq are forbidden, as all the others have been."

The audience, consisting of tens of thousands of pilgrims to the shrines in Mashhad, roared with approval as Khamenei went through a long list of denunciations and defiant responses to American accusations against Iran. This massive crowd would have been fairly easy for IRI propagandists to assemble. The people were already there in a relatively small part of the city of Mashhad. They were away from home and presumably not encumbered with scheduling conflicts, and of course a chance to see the country's leader speak would have been a powerful draw.