Iran’s leaders risk being overwhelmed by crises they created

SO UPSET WERE they over the crash of a Ukrainian passenger jet that not one but two officials in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its leader, said they wished they were dead. The IRGC, the regime’s Praetorian guard, shot down the plane by mistake over Tehran on January 8th, then tried to cover it up. The mea culpas came days later, after officials were caught in their lies. But the feelings of regret were short-lived. When thousands of Iranians took to the streets to voice their anger, the IRGC sent its bully boys to knock back the crowds; when the thumping failed to work, some opened fire.

Force has quelled previous protests, most recently in November, when the authorities killed hundreds of people. But the regime offers no solutions to the economic anxiety and political stagnation lying beneath all the anger. So it lunges from crisis to crisis, as the ranks of the discontented grow. Meanwhile pressure from abroad is rising. On January 14th Britain, France and Germany formally accused Iran of breaching an agreement, signed in 2015, to curb its nuclear programme. “We feel the system is on the brink,” says one protester.