Look Where It Got Us

gas reserves outside Russia and 7 per cent of the world’s oil, Iran suffers chronic unemployment, economic malaise and corruption. […]

Former revolutionaries and foreign diplomats agree that the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which cost Iran 500,000 lives, allowed the revolution to be hijacked and diverted, handing the regime the chance to dispose of dissidents and critics behind the call for national unity.

Mr Mirdamadi said: “Everything became overshadowed by the war. Everything was affected by it. Then, only one year after it ended, Khomeini died. His influence could have brought groups together but his death left us a vacuum of such a personality.”

The political aftermath has caused such disillusion that a large proportion of the electorate seems certain to boycott next week’s vote.

There are eight candidates, chosen by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the unelected Supreme Leader, and his 12-strong Council of Guardians. Of the eight, four of them are hardliners. Only one is a reformist. The winner will draw a Cabinet from a parliament already refined by the Council of Guardians.

Reform is unlikely to have any significant leeway in Iran just yet. Foreign observers and Iranians suggest that the combination of disillusionment, fear, war-weariness and a lack of viable political alternative has eroded the chance of a new revolution. Meanwhile, veterans do not even enjoy their revolution nostalgia.

One said: “My friends and I sit around at night talking about the violent protests of 1979.

“We say, ‘Hey, you remember when you started fighting with the police or did such and such in this street or that? Yeah, you idiot, look where it got us’.”

Then, only one year after it ended, Khomeini died. His influence could have brought groups together but his death left us a vacuum of such a personality. Ah, the nostalgia of revolutionaries: if only Lenin hadn’t died so young….