A president’s death gives Iran’s regime a choice

THE IRONY was not lost on many Iranians. Last month their government fired 300 missiles and drones at Israel and touted the attack as a show of sophistication and strength. Barely a month later, that same government lost track of its own president. Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter disappeared in what the regime said was bad weather on May 19th. Rescue teams struggled to find him, and Iran had to plead with other countries for help. It took almost 24 hours to locate the wreckage. For all its belligerence abroad, the regime could not look more brittle at home.Few Iranians will shed tears for , a vicious prosecutor in his youth and a vacuous president in his final years. The rial lost 55% of its value during his tenure, which began in 2021. Relations with the West curdled. Annual inflation is above 30%. Mass protests in 2022 showed the regime to be more unpopular than ever. Ali Khamenei seems eager to forget him, even though the supreme leader groomed him for decades. Still, his death will shake the country’s regime at a dangerous moment.