College campuses across Iran have transformed into centers of resistance as students clash with government security forces following the reopening of universities after several weeks of shutdown. The return to classes on Saturday has reignited widespread demonstrations that Iranian authorities had hoped to suppress.
Government officials are expressing deep concern about the resurgence of campus activism, particularly as scattered protests continue in various cities alongside strikes and demonstrations over economic hardships and rising costs.
A student organizer from the University of Tehran spoke with The Media Line on Monday evening, explaining that Iranian leadership was caught off guard by the intensity of campus unrest. Despite the government’s violent crackdown that has resulted in thousands of deaths, implementation of martial law conditions, severe internet limitations, and intimidation of journalists, the reopening of educational institutions has created new flashpoints for confrontation between students and government forces.
The activist noted that current protest levels demonstrate an escalation beyond what occurred before January 8, when massive crowds took to the streets and faced gunfire from government troops.
When universities officially resumed operations on Saturday, February 21, students in Tehran and other cities immediately converted their campuses into zones of open defiance. Anti-government chants including calls for the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei and condemnation of the ruling system prompted immediate deployment of Basij militia forces by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, leading to violent confrontations.
In a surprising development, students at prestigious technical institutions like Amirkabir and Sharif universities began voicing support for the exiled Pahlavi royal family for the first time in Iranian academic history. This represents a dramatic shift, as universities have traditionally opposed both monarchical and Islamic rule since their establishment eight to nine decades ago.
Iranian higher education has a long history of political activism dating back to the 1970s, when campuses became breeding grounds for leftist revolutionary movements. The student movement gained particular significance after the December 7, 1953 incident known as ’16 Azar,’ when military forces killed three students during protests against US Vice President Richard Nixon’s visit, occurring months after the CIA-supported coup that removed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.
Following the 1979 revolution, universities initially supported the uprising but gradually distanced themselves from Ayatollah Khomeini’s leadership as leftist groups gained influence. Khomeini viewed campuses as opposition strongholds and launched what became known as the ‘Cultural Revolution’ in spring 1980, during which hundreds of leftist students were killed, injured, or imprisoned, particularly members of the communist-affiliated ‘Pishgam’ organization.
After that assault, universities were shuttered and later reopened with strict ideological screening for both students and faculty, resulting in many being permanently barred from academic participation.
Despite mass executions in the 1980s and heavy campus security, student organizations gradually reemerged in the 1990s. A major incident occurred in 1999 when regime forces attacked Tehran University dormitories, sparking days of demonstrations and clashes in Tehran and other major cities.
Universities have remained central to protest movements through subsequent uprisings in 2009 and 2019, as well as the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement in 2022, despite ongoing arrests, suspensions, restrictions, and direct attacks resulting in student casualties.
The Islamic Republic had hoped that reopening universities with delayed semester starts and increased online coursework would normalize conditions, but within three days, campuses again became battlegrounds between regime opponents and Basij forces.
The emergence of pro-Pahlavi slogans, including chants of ‘This is the final battle, Pahlavi returns,’ marks a significant development. Support for exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi appears to be gaining momentum among some students, building on widespread pro-Pahlavi demonstrations that occurred on January 8 and 9 following his call for protests.
Mohammad Reza, an electrical engineering student at Amirkabir University who participated in pro-monarchy chants, told The Media Line: ‘In my opinion, and in the view of many students who support Reza Pahlavi, he is the most qualified person under current conditions to lead the transition period with the least damage and with global support. Not everyone who supports him favors a monarchy, but I believe Reza Pahlavi, under whatever title, can play an effective role in Iran’s future economic and social development.’
When asked about anti-leftist slogans that have also emerged in university protests, Mohammad Reza responded: ‘Unfortunately, the left has not had a good record since the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution onward. It seems they focus more on fighting Reza Pahlavi and monarchism than on fighting the regime, and that is why students need to distinguish themselves from them.’
However, Azarmeher, a University of Tehran student representing leftist student groups, offered a different perspective to The Media Line: ‘Up until Monday, people—including students—were fighting together against the Islamic regime regardless of ideology or political orientation. When the enemy was firing barrages of bullets at us, they did not ask us which kind of leftist or which kind of rightist we were.’
Azarmeher continued: ‘But the dangerous game initiated by monarchist supporters has not only deepened divisions abroad and within the anti–Islamic Republic camp; it has also brought those divisions onto university campuses, pitting left-wing opposition students against right-wing opposition students. That is why some people, even without resorting to conspiracy theories, believe the Islamic Republic welcomes the rise of monarchist tendencies, because they serve to divide the public and the opposition.’
Despite these divisions, Azarmeher believes current social, political, and economic conditions, combined with the possibility of war, indicate that protests will intensify. She emphasized: ‘The Islamic Republic will be overthrown by a popular uprising. If revolutionary forces can assume leadership, a democratic Iranian republic led by women inside the country will offer a horizon of political and economic progress with the participation of all forces and groups, including ethnic and national communities, and unconditional freedom of expression.’
Some analysts suggest an ‘attritional revolution’ could paralyze and ultimately destroy the current regime in coming months, while certain student activists in Tehran believe the Islamic Republic may not survive even the next few months. By Monday evening, protests and clashes had spread from Tehran to universities nationwide.
The scale of potential student involvement today far exceeds that of the 1979 revolution. At that time, Iran had 22 universities with approximately 170,000 domestic students and 100,000 studying abroad. Today, the country has nearly 100 times more universities, with domestic student enrollment increased twentyfold.
Students now comprise about 4 percent of Iran’s population, compared to just half a percent during the previous revolution, when the majority of citizens were illiterate, deeply religious, and resided in small towns or rural areas.
Significant changes in urban life and the emergence of a powerful urban middle class, which has sometimes shifted toward conservative and far-right positions in efforts to escape Islamic Republic rule, represent additional factors that could shape Iran’s future. As one art student returning from Monday’s protests told The Media Line: ‘Left or right—what is certain and inevitable is the inevitable destruction of the Islamic Republic.’
