The Islamic republic of Iran’s year of living dangerously is finding an apt end in the extraordinary scenes unfolding after the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The senior cleric’s funeral has turned into a huge demonstration against the Government, with tens of thousands of protesters descending on the holy city of Qom.
The YouTube clip of the murder of the young protester Neda Agha-Soltan in the summer’s demonstrations against the stolen elections symbolised the Tehran regime’s betrayal of its youth. The death of Montazeri was a reminder of how an older generation has been betrayed. Montazeri, a founding father of the republic and once a chosen successor of Ayatollah Khomeini, came to despise the monster that grew out of the revolution. He recently denounced the regime’s shock troops, the Basij, as having chosen the “path of Satan”.
