They're using some kind of chemical agent on the protesters.

[Swede]

Edited to say that this is all from Andrew Sullivan's blog. Link at bottom of page.


A reader infers the chemical weapon:

Probably CS tear gas crystals mixed in water which is why washing it off only makes it worse. Mixing it in water like the reports would be the most efficient usage of the CS agent

Chemical warfare? It is not boiling water but something else:

Helicopters spraying water with agent in it onto crowds. Skin irritant, will make it feel as though water is scalding.

11.17 am. I have to say I found the boiling water from helicopters hard to believe. And yet more tweets repeat it:

Two reports coming from Tehran about helicopters pouring boiling water on protesters.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

[jazzjunkysue]

1. Let's send raincoats.

Bastids.

[Hekate]

2. The US has developed a Pain Ray for crowd control. Wonder when we'll see that tested...

... and whether it will be there or here?

Hekate

[Warpy]

3. My own best guess is a pepper agent since it's liquid

but tear gas crystals aren't out of the question. They're telling people on the ground to use lemon juice or vinegar to neutralize it, something that's effective for both.

BBC now reports Khomenei's mausoleum has been bombed.

That's huge.

[Swede]

4. I've never heard of a pepper agent confused with boiling water.

Multiple reports of boiling water being used.

[Warpy]

6. Pepper gives the sensation of burning

so it makes sense.

Boiling water dumped from a helicopter would cool on the way down and be ineffective.

That's why they used boiling oil or pitch from the battlements in the Middle Ages.

[Swede]

7. No,what I mean is,pepper is an irritant,they are describing scalding water.

Heat as in burning the skin,so it sounds like some chemical agent.

[Warpy]

10. Water wouldn't work

People are now reporting severe skin reactions, so it seems pretty certain it was a chemical irritant, not pepper spray.

[northernlights]

11. acid

tweets on sullivan identify it as acid.

[Swede]

5. One of the latest tweets gives a method of washing off CS gas.

12.21 pm. Sodium metabisulfite Na2S2O5 mixed with water (5% solution) cures CS tear gas. Wash eyes with solution

[conscious evolution]

9. Milk also works

Trust me on this one.
If you have a way to tweet back with that do so please.

[northernlights]

8. they're saying now that it's acid

and that embassies (Australian and others?) are taking in the wounded.