After the Crackdown

Tragically, Iran’s government appears to have driven back the most significant challenge to its repressive rule since the 1979 revolution.

First, the hard-line mullahs brazenly stole the election for the hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When hundreds of thousands of Iranians protested, they sent their thugs to beat and shoot them. At least 20 people are dead, and hundreds of journalists, political activists and former government officials have been detained.

Even before the elections, Iranians — likely the majority — were fed up with Mr. Ahmadinejad. They were sick of the corruption and incompetence. They wanted more say in how they are governed and more engagement with the world, including the United States. The regime’s refusal to listen has now exposed deep fault lines in Iranian society. Even some members of the clerical elite seemed to question the thuggery.