The job of Iran’s president is a study in humiliation

Pity the Islamic republic’s elected presidents. For over three decades their fates have ended in censure, ignominy or early death. The last, Ebrahim Raisi, died in May in a mysterious helicopter crash. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a president in the 1990s, suddenly died in his swimming pool. Mir Hossein Moussavi, a contender many Iranians believe lost the election in 2009 to rigging, has spent 13 years under house arrest. Muhammad Khatami is banned from the airwaves, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is banned from travel. Several remain butts of public ridicule.