DARKNESS has descended over next-door Iran, where widespread, violent protests refuse to abate, posing the most serious governance and security challenges to the government in recent memory. With a nearly complete communications blackout in place, it has been difficult to obtain verifiable information from the country, and with various global powers taking increasingly assertive positions in the ongoing unrest, it is almost impossible to discern facts from propaganda in international reportage on Iran’s unfolding crisis.

We do know that, on Saturday, the Iranian army issued a statement saying it would safeguard strategic infrastructure and public property, while urging Iranians to “thwart the enemy’s plots”. Clearly, things........

© Dawn