“For now, the Islamic Republic may be able to contain the unrest. ‘The violence is not necessarily a precursor to more massive political violence in Iran; nor is it the desperate and bloody response of a regime verging on collapse,’ Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former treasury specialist now at the Center for a New American Security, told me. Despite Iran’s struggles under powerful sanctions, ‘it would be folly to underestimate the staying power of Iran’s regime élites who are experts at repressive rule and economic resilience in conditions of extreme hardship,’ she said. ‘We should not expect a fatal turning point for the revolution any time soon…'”