After more than 10 days of protests against what now looks emphatically like a part-manufactured landslide to re-elect President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the opposition in Iran has cracked the cohesion of the leading players in the regime. But Mir-Hossein Moussavi and his backers have not broken their will to retain power.

How could they? Mr Moussavi, a former premier, and Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former presidents, are the offspring of the revolution. They seek the reform of the Islamic Republic, not to overthrow it.