While Iran’s turmoil persists, jitters spread through the region

there comes a point when the regime under threat moves from trying to control the crowd without spilling too much blood to sending in the army to crush the revolt. Iran may be nearing that point. Swathes of the country already look like a war zone. Armoured-car columns of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (), the regime’s praetorian guard, roll into cities including Mahabad and Javanroud in Iran’s Kurdish north-west, firing with machineguns on protesters. Helicopters fly overhead. Circling drones broadcast martial songs.The death toll across the country is rising sharply. Iran Human Rights, a watchdog based in Norway, reckons its tally of 342 dead in the first two months has jumped to at least 416 in the past week. The true figure could be much higher, it says, because internet blockages have interrupted the flow of information.