The death toll from the crackdown on protesters in Iran is vivid evidence not only of the regime’s brutality but also of a monumental gamble by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.

This blinkered and ruthless old man has staked everything on the proposition that maximum cruelty against protesters will not trigger America’s threatened military intervention – or, if it does, that the regime will survive anyway.

In short, Khamenei is wagering that his own ability and resolve to preserve the Islamic Republic – no matter what the human cost – will outweigh US President Donald Trump’s determination to topple it.

Khamenei has no thought of domestic reform or economic revival. He will not ease the weight of oppression or deal with official corruption.

He has no ideas for escaping the burden of sanctions by settling Iran’s decades-long confrontation with America, which would require ending its nuclear program.

But there is one course of action he will take, and that is to allow the Revolutionary Guard and its Basij militia to massacre protesters.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and US President Donald Trump.Credit: AP

And, judging by the murderous events of the weekend, there are plenty of men with guns who are still willing to go about this atrocious task. Khamenei presides over near-total regime paralysis in all respects save this one.

And mass killing on the streets was........

© The Sydney Morning Herald