Iranian Universities Erupt for Third Consecutive Day as Students Defy Regime in Unprecedented Campus Uprising
Protests triggered by 40-day mourning ceremonies for thousands killed in January crackdown spread to campuses nationwide; Basij forces clash with demonstrators as parliament threatens minister; nuclear talks with Washington continue in parallel
Anti-government protests swept through Iranian universities for a third straight day on Monday, February 23, as thousands of students across Tehran and other major cities took to campus grounds demanding regime change, mourning the thousands of compatriots killed in January's deadly crackdown, and staging confrontations with pro-government Basij paramilitary forces. The wave of unrest — the most sustained student uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — has unfolded as Iran simultaneously faces mounting US military pressure and delicate nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
Three Days of Defiance: A Chronology
Saturday, February 21 — Day One: The Semester Begins in Protest
Iran's universities had been closed since January 14 — ostensibly on grounds of "cold weather" — but in reality shuttered for 56 consecutive days following the government's violent suppression of the nationwide January protests. When the new academic semester officially began on Saturday, February 21 (2 Esfand on the Iranian calendar), students did not simply return to class. They returned to resistance.
The timing was deliberate and symbolically charged: Saturday fell on the 40th day since the peak of the January bloodshed — a date of profound mourning in Shia Muslim tradition. For weeks, Iranian families had been holding quiet commemoration events, clapping, playing music outside mosques, and holding up "victory" signs in defiance of state norms for mourning. Now, with university gates reopened, that grief flooded the campus.
At Sharif University of Technology — Iran's most prestigious engineering college — video verified by multiple international outlets showed rows of students chanting against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him a "murderous leader," and expressing support for Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah. The scenes at Sharif were mirrored at the University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, and Al-Zahra University — all in the capital — as well as at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad.
Sunday, February 22 — Day Two: A Tale of Two Rallies
Sunday brought a sharpened ideological confrontation. The state dispatched Basij student militia — operating with official government permits — to campus entrances to stage counter-rallies, burning American and Israeli flags and chanting "Death to America" and "Either death or Khamenei." State-affiliated media broadcast these scenes prominently, describing the anti-government protesters as agents of a "foreign-backed riot" responsible for January's deaths.
But viral footage circulated by grassroots student organizations told a starkly different story. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators held their ground at the University of Tehran, Amirkabir, Sharif, and Beheshti. At Amirkabir, scuffles broke out between protesters and Basij members; some anti-government students burned the Iranian flag, while others in the same courtyard raised it at the building's highest point in a remarkable scene of competing nationalisms. Some Basij counter-protesters burned the American flag in response.
Monday, February 23 — Day Three: The Uprising Deepens
By Monday, the protests had expanded geographically and intensified ideologically. Demonstrations were confirmed at Tehran University, Al-Zahra University, Sharif University of Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Khajeh Nasir University, Science and Technology University, Science and Culture University, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), and Ferdowsi and Sajjad universities in Mashhad.
At Sharif University, students rallied in front of the campus cafeteria, confronted Basij paramilitary members, and tore down portraits of regime leaders while chanting: "This is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali will be overthrown!" At Khajeh Nasir University, students declared: "Khamenei is a murderer, his rule is invalid." At Al-Zahra — a women's university — security forces attacked a student protest rally, with students reportedly standing their ground.
The Slogans and Their Significance
Analysts and journalists covering the protests have noted the ideological complexity of the student movement — and its sharp divergence from the Iranian opposition abroad. While some demonstrators at Sharif University waved the lion-and-sun flag of the pre-revolutionary monarchy and chanted pro-Pahlavi slogans, a significant contingent at Tehran University and Amirkabir simultaneously chanted: "Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Leader" and "Neither monarchy, nor leadership; democracy, equality."
Reformist analyst Ehsan Hooshmand, writing in the Iranian newspaper Shargh, described the appearance of monarchist slogans on university campuses as a seismic political shift: "For the first time in decades, Iranian university campuses are witnessing such chants — a complete ideological transformation in the political space of Iranian universities over the past 90 years." For much of the 20th century, Iranian campuses were dominated by Marxist and leftist currents; the echoing of monarchist sentiment today marks a profound reversal.
Other chants connecting the protests to the January bloodshed were widely reported: "Women, life, freedom" — the rallying cry of the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests — returned to campuses alongside new slogans directly naming Khamenei and demanding his removal. At Beheshti University, whose students had issued a statement in January declaring that "this criminal system has taken our future hostage for 47 years," the temperature remained high.
Background: From January's Bloodbath to Campus Uprising
The current student protests are the aftershock of a seismic wave of unrest that began on December 28, 2025, when shopkeepers and traders in Tehran's grand bazaars walked off the job over soaring inflation, chronic water and electricity shortages, and the Pezeshkian government's failure to deliver on reform promises. Within days the protests spread — students joined, workers struck, and demonstrations erupted across all 31 of Iran's provinces.
The demonstrations peaked catastrophically on the nights of January 8 and 9, 2026. The Iranian government imposed a near-total communications blackout — cutting telephone and internet access — and security forces escalated to the mass use of live ammunition against demonstrators. Hospitals in Tehran and Shiraz were reported to be overwhelmed by gunshot victims. The Guardian documented multiple reports of security forces firing on crowds, with one eyewitness account speaking of "hundreds of bodies" across Tehran.
By late January, the protests had been crushed through a combination of mass arrests — estimated at 30,000 to 36,500 by Time, The Guardian, and Iran International — and overwhelming lethal force. The government declared on January 21 that 3,117 people had been killed, attributing all deaths to "terrorists and rioters" funded and armed by the United States and Israel. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), drawing on a verified network of activists inside Iran, placed the death toll at a minimum of 7,015 — and says it is still investigating nearly 12,000 additional cases. US President Donald Trump stated on Friday that 32,000 people had been killed, without providing a source.
Official and Institutional Responses
Faced with the return of student protest, university administrators have sought to balance containment with a limited tolerance, aware that heavier crackdowns could trigger broader unrest. Mohammad Hossein Omid, president of the University of Tehran, announced that for the first time a designated physical location on campus would be made available for student protests — even for gatherings of as few as three students — pending formal approval from the Cultural Affairs office.
The university's Cultural Affairs Deputy, Hossein Goldansaz, told the official Mehr news agency: "The university atmosphere is naturally affected by a society in mourning." He acknowledged that students were grieving classmates killed in January, allowed that permitted protests would be tolerated, but drew a firm line: "If protests lead to violence, we will in no way support the students." Faculty members were instructed to remain present at gatherings to help de-escalate tensions.
The president of Sharif University stepped into the crowd of protesters, appealing for calm and urging that education continue. He noted that some institutional actors had proposed shifting all universities to online instruction, but that Sharif's administration had assured the government it could manage the situation internally.
Parliament Threatens Minister
Tehran MP Amirhossein Sabeti publicly threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Science Minister Hossein Simaei, writing on social media that "the chanting of radical slogans and burning of the Iranian flag by pseudo-student thugs in several universities is the direct result of the wrong policies and appeasement of the president and minister of science." The threat reflects a hardliner backlash within the Iranian political establishment against any concession to protest dynamics.
Minister Simaei, for his part, insisted on Friday that gatherings across universities had been "peaceful," that both sides had held rallies, and that no confrontation or tension had occurred — a characterization at sharp odds with verified video evidence of clashes. He also confirmed that many arrested students have since been released, and that his ministry is "continuously following up" on those still detained.
Government's Broader Response
The Iranian government has continued to reject international scrutiny of January's violence. It has refused a UN independent fact-finding mission, imposed internet restrictions for a seventh consecutive week, and demanded that the international community provide "evidence" before accepting any allegations of state-directed killings. An internal Iranian fact-finding mission was announced in January, but no results or timeline have been provided. Former President Mohammad Khatami, speaking publicly, urged that "arrests and summonses be halted" and that university matters be resolved "through wisdom and calm, far from political and security violence."
Geopolitical Context: Nuclear Negotiations and US Military Pressure
The campus protests are unfolding against a backdrop of extraordinary geopolitical tension. President Donald Trump has twice threatened direct military strikes against Iran — first during January's crackdown over the killing of protesters, and again over Iran's nuclear program. US military assets have been positioned conspicuously: two aircraft carrier strike groups, including the USS Gerald R. Ford (spotted passing the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday), are operating in the region alongside bombers and fighter jets reported at airbases across the Middle East.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, speaking on Fox News, said the president is "curious" as to why Iran has not yet come forward to declare it does not want a nuclear weapon and agree to terms. "With the amount of sea power and naval power over there, why haven't they come to us?" Witkoff asked. US officials have separately indicated that potential strikes could target individual Iranian leaders.
Despite this pressure, indirect nuclear talks are continuing. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS News on Sunday that he was still preparing a draft counterproposal and that a "good text" accommodating both sides' concerns was achievable. A further round of indirect talks was confirmed for Thursday in Geneva. Iranian and US officials acknowledged differing views on the scope of sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear concessions — the central sticking point in negotiations.
Farsi-Language Sources: What Iranian Media Is Reporting
Iranian reformist and moderate outlets have provided rare on-the-ground texture largely absent from international coverage. Euronews Persian (parsi.euronews.com) characterized the reopening of universities as marking "a new chapter in the history of student activism," noting that campuses have transitioned from being "scenes of scattered student gatherings" to becoming "centers for reproducing protest discourse." The outlet observed that slogans have become "more structurally subversive" — directly targeting the leader and the architecture of state power.
The official Fars News Agency — typically a reliable barometer of hardliner sentiment — reported protests at Sharif University involving "monarchist chants by some students," adding a layer of legitimacy to what state media had otherwise sought to dismiss as fringe provocations. The state-affiliated Mehr News Agency acknowledged demonstrations at Tehran University, Amirkabir, Sharif, and Al-Zahra on Monday, while describing confrontations at Amirkabir as having "escalated to physical clashes."
Reformist daily Shargh published an analysis by Ehsan Hooshmand situating the current protests within the longer arc of Iranian student activism, tracing the shift from the Marxist left of the 1940s–1960s through post-revolutionary Islamic student bodies, and through the 2009 and 2022 protest cycles, to the ideologically plural and increasingly anti-system movement of today. A report by Fararu noted that Sharif University's disciplinary committee had already begun summoning students for hearings before the semester even officially reopened.
What Comes Next: The 40-Day Cycle and Its Implications
Historians and Iran analysts have noted with close attention that the 40-day mourning cycle holds particular political significance in Iranian Shia culture. During the 1979 revolution, each round of mourning gatherings for slain protesters generated new protests, which were then suppressed, generating yet more martyrs — and more 40-day cycles. The pattern drove the revolution's momentum month after month. Some observers worry — or hope, depending on their perspective — that Iran in 2026 may be entering a similar cascade.
With thousands of students still imprisoned, internet access remaining severely restricted after seven weeks, the government refusing an independent death toll inquiry, and the US maintaining an active military threat, the conditions that ignited the campuses show no sign of abating. The coming days — and the next 40-day memorial cycle — will test whether the student movement can sustain itself, and whether the regime can contain it without the mass violence that in January transformed a protest movement into a national trauma.
Artwork: Manus