Kuala Lampur, Jan. 10 -- Iran is once again approaching a decisive political moment - one shaped less by ideology than by exhaustion.

The Islamic Republic has weathered repeated waves of unrest over the past three decades, from student protests in the late 1990s to mass mobilisation after a disputed election in the late 2000s, from economic anger in the late 2010s to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that shook the foundations of clerical authority in the early 2020s.

Each episode was suppressed. None resolved the underlying crisis of legitimacy.

What makes the present moment different is the convergence of economic collapse, leadership fatigue, and strategic paralysis at the very top of the system.

Prices have surged by nearly fifty ...