Iran’s tired regime is living on borrowed time
A wave of protests portends more to come
The most poetic scenes are sometimes the most powerful. A young woman dances in front of a bonfire, then tosses her headscarf into the flames. A lone old lady, her white hair uncovered, shuffles down the street waving her headscarf in tune to the words “Death to Khamenei!” Such acts of defiance against Iran’s supreme leader and his regime, prompted nearly a fortnight ago by the murder of a young woman arrested by the “morality police” for not covering all her hair, have spread to dozens of Iranian cities. They mark the most menacing threat to the ayatollahs’ dictatorial rule for many years.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Is this time different?”
Leaders October 1st 2022
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- Ignore Putin’s fake referendums and keep helping Ukraine
- Markets are reeling from higher rates. The world economy is next
- The fundamental contradiction of ESG is being laid bare
- Iran’s tired regime is living on borrowed time
- How not to run a country
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