Leaders | On shaky ground

Iran’s tired regime is living on borrowed time

A wave of protests portends more to come

Iranian demonstrators clash with police durning protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran. Fresh protests broke out on September 19 in Iran over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the "morality police" that enforces a strict dress code, local media reported. Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday announced the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in a hospital after three days in a coma, following her arrest by Tehran's morality police during a visit to the capital on September 13. Tehran, Iran on September 22, 2022. Photo by SalamPix/ABACAPRESS.COM

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?”

How not to run a country

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