Most of the people who surged into Spain on Thursday have since returned to Morocco. A small minority are holed up on a seafront, tired, hungry and vowing to stay.

Europe sheltered many refugees in 2015. Its hard-line reaction to a new crisis in Ceuta shows how, 11 years on, the far right has reshaped European attitudes.

After a lifetime of observing Iran’s revolutionary generation, I know that expecting meekness or diplomatic finesse from them is a dangerous illusion.