There are 70 million people in Iran. 70% of them are under 30.

In June the world’s eyes will be on Iran as it holds its “democratic” presidential elections. Tapping into Iran’s massive (and massively wired) yoof culture, openDemocracy has launched IranScan, a unique blog written in English for a global audience by a gaggle of top-notch Iranian bloggers, journalists and activists.

Iran Scan 1384 is led by Hossein Derakhshan, the legendary blogger ‘Hoder’. There are an incredible 75,000 active weblogs in Iran. Persian is the fourth biggest language on the web. The kids are getting busy.

My colleagues tell me “Iran Scan will be the place for inside information, breaking news, informed comment, and serious debate about the democratic future of Iran.”

Not to be missed.

But don’t take my word for it. Solana Larsen knows better than I. She’s written a piece about the extraordinary explosion of Iranian blogging that introduces openDemocracy’s Iran Scan project. You can read her informed, optimistic and techie thoughts here.