Iran's Islamist leadership is worried that opposition forces in the country will use the cover of Quds Day - an annual 'national holiday' of anti-Israel rallies and marches - for anti-regime protests in Tehran.
Iranian dissidents, for their part, are encouraging just that outcome, in order to reignite the nascent local pro-democracy movement, which has primarily gone 
Some Iranians are planning to respond to the chant leaders with, "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei".
underground since massive rallies led to violent state repression in the wake of Iranian elections in June.
According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, reformists of all types are intending to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, even at the state-sponsored Quds Day rallies themselves. Many Iranian dissidents active online urged supporters of "a free Iran" to attend the official state rallies in order to undermine them. Such rallies normally feature chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America", but some Iranians are planning to respond to the chant leaders with, "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei", in reference to Ahmadinejad and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In addition to general opposition to the regime, many protesters are planning to link their slogans to the theme of the day with demands to halt ongoing transfers of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. They see the money transfers as "disregard for the Iranian people's money", which should be spent at home.
One Iranian activist wrote in an online forum: "This year Iranians are going to come to [the] streets to protest not Israel's occupation of Palestine, but occupation of Iran by the illegitimate and unwanted Islamic Republic of Iran."
Former Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini initiated Quds Day after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, but the idea quickly caught on internationally. It is marked on the last Friday of Ramadan, which falls this week, and is meant to keep the issue of Israel at the forefront of Muslim thought at the climax of the month-long period of religious introspection and fasting.
On Quds Day in 2000, Khamenei called for Israel's destruction, saying it is "the only way to solve the problems of the Middle East."
Heavy (Clerical) Hitter Adds His Voice
On Monday, Iranian cleric and dissident Ayatollah Ali Hossein Montazeri called on all Islamic religious leaders in Iran's major cities to openly oppose the Iranian regime. In an open letter, Montazeri said that the silence of the religious leaders gives legitimacy to a regime which "had shed the blood of innocent civilians while committing human rights violations," according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The religious leaders, Montazeri wrote, are "responsible for defending the religion and for purging it of the deeds that this regime has been perpetrating in the name of the religion - deeds that are diametrically opposed to shari'a [Islamic law] and to the goals of the Islamic Revolution."
Montazeri told his fellow Islamic clerics, "The regime is exploiting you, and your silence makes you its collaborators."
According to MEMRI, "It is safe to assume that Montazeri's call will have a significant impact on the upcoming Quds Day events."
Regime Not Ready to Blink Yet
Realizing the potential in the Quds Day events to spark anti-regime forces into action, Iranian leaders have attempted to preempt that possibility with statements of their own.
Quds Day, according to Iranian leader Khamenei, "is the symbol of Iran’s national unity." He insinuated, as in the past, that pro-democracy forces in Iran are agents of foreign powers.
"The enemy has tried in all years to weaken the Quds Day ceremonies, but this year too, the pious Iranian people will commemorate this day by rallying in Tehran and all over the country. People should be cautious that some people do not make use of the Quds Day gatherings to create dispersion, because flag-bearing in support of Palestine is only possible through the unity of people," Khamenei told a gathering at Tehran University this week. He claimed that the anti-regime riots that followed the last elections were attempts by "the enemy" to strike a blow against Iran and that "all people should be vigilant in this regard."
The Islamic Republic is proud to have Israel and America as enemies.
Driving home the message, Khamenei further commented that the Islamic Republic is proud to have Israel and America as enemies, while maintaining alliances with the "faithful and oppressed nations".
In a separate statement, issued Monday, Iranian cleric and former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani - recently seen as more "moderate" regarding political opposition - echoed Khamenei.
"World powers are ready to add to their crimes by taking advantage of weak alliances among Muslims, their ignorance, and especially the disputes between Palestinian fighters themselves," Rafsanjani said.
"God forbid that Quds Day, which the Islamic Revolution's wise old leader called the day of Islam's awakening, be forgotten because of these disputes," warned Rafsanjani. "God forbid that that the rifts provide an opportunity for the enemy to make a gain - an enemy which has waited years in the hope of erasing the true Islamic identity of al-Quds," he added, in apparent reference to Israel.