Iran’s ruling ayatollahs are hanging on

protesters who are burning their headscarves all across Iran liken themselves to gazelles crossing a river infested with crocodiles. Riot police may pick off many of them, they admit, but the herd will reach salvation. They will bait the regime and its security forces by dancing, baring their hair and torching the ubiquitous posters of the reigning ayatollahs and generals. Many of the demonstrators have been shot, beaten and carted away. But after nearly a fortnight of protests the defiance persists. Disturbances have spread across every province in the country. They have been the biggest for years. A post circulating on social media declares: “From now on, Iran will be known for its women, not for its carpets, its saffron or its cats.”Yet the crocodiles may still win. As the death toll approaches a hundred, the gazelles lack leadership, a communications network and a coherent plan. So far the constituencies that could swing the outcome—merchants, reformist politicians and clerics, and the army—have kept silent. Calls for a general strike have been largely ignored. Shops are still open. Few Iranians can afford not to work. Many fear the chaos that overran neighbouring Iraq.