Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

Iran is changing, but it’s impossible to say now how it will change.

So far, the centre is holding. We’ve not seen any cracks – neither in the highest political echelons nor in the security forces, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps set up in 1979 with one task: protect the revolution.

On the opposition side, there are many voices in exile; sometimes they go after each other as well as the regime. There are also some noble voices from inside Iran, including Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel laureate still in prison as she calls for peaceful change from within.

During this wave of unrest, we’ve seen the how the exiled former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has shown his capacity to mobilise. But in the past he has not been a unifying figure.

Social movements often pride themselves on being leaderless – then there’s no recognisable head for authorities to remove.

But this worries Iranians who want to see change, but not chaos or collapse; they may long for reform not revolution.

What is clear in this unrest is there are no longer any easy fixes. Iran is broken economically and politically. The pieces are there – how they’ll come together, no one can say for sure.