Protests have reignited on Iranian university campuses. Students are demonstrating against the government. This comes as Iran faces potential conflict with the United States. The demonstrations mark a resurgence of dissent. Security forces previously suppressed earlier unrest. Many Iranians are preparing for possible war. Talks between Iran and the US are ongoing.
A second day of anti-government protests erupted Sunday on university campuses in Iran’s two largest cities, according to student and human rights groups as well as videos, which were verified by The New York Times, despite a deadly state crackdown on unrest.
The protests took place on at least seven university campuses in Tehran, the capital, and in the northeastern city of Mashhad, according to accounts from student groups. They come as Iran’s clerical leaders struggle to manage uprisings at home and a looming risk of war with Washington.
They are also some of the first protests since security forces violently put down nationwide protests in January, killing thousands of people. Since then, the government has arrested around 40,000 people, according to several rights groups, and has seized the assets of people supportive of the protests, which called for an end to the rule of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Still, many Iranians have continued to signal their dissent with events commemorating slain protesters, signing petitions, and organizing sit-ins. But they had largely refrained from protesting again.
That changed Saturday. As the first day of a new semester in Iran began, anti-government protests erupted at multiple universities, according to student groups and videos verified by the Times.
Students continued protesting Sunday, wearing black to mourn those killed in earlier protests, according to accounts from student groups and videos verified by the Times from the Tehran University of Art and the Iran University of Science and Technology.
The government has not yet officially acknowledged the university protests, though state news media has reported on the tensions on university campuses.
Hossein Goldansaz, the deputy for social affairs at the University of Tehran, acknowledged the protests to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.
“Radical slogans will only waste the students’ time, and students must be very careful that it does not lead to violence,” he was quoted as saying. “I told the students that if this happens, I will not support them under any circumstances.”
The protests come as many Iranians brace for the possibility of war with the United States, according to interviews with residents who say they are trying to stock up on canned goods or making plans to seek shelter in remote regions or flee the country.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran to limit Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities have yet to yield a breakthrough. Regional officials have expressed concerns that war could be imminent. The U.S. military has amassed dozens of warships, fighter planes and reconnaissance jets in the region in preparation for a possible conflict.
Talks between Iran and the United States, brokered by Omani diplomats, will resume in Switzerland on Thursday, Oman’s foreign minister said on social media. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation that “a solution is achievable,” but reiterated the government’s position that it would not give up its right to nuclear enrichment, as Washington demands.
“Students see the contradiction clearly: While the authorities project strength abroad and engage in brinkmanship with Washington, they are domestically weaker than at any point in recent years,” said Omid Memarian, a senior fellow at DAWN, a Washington-based human rights organization focused on the Middle East.
“The government cannot indefinitely invoke the possibility of war to justify silencing dissent,” he added.
It remains difficult to gauge the size of the current protests or whether they will spread further.
Last December, university students were among the first to join protests that began as strikes in several cities’ bazaars over Iran’s deepening economic crisis. The demonstrations quickly grew into a nationwide movement, demanding an end to Iran’s authoritarian rule.
According to Iran’s government, more than 3,000 people died in the crackdown on unrest it blamed on “terrorists” backed by Israel and the United States. Rights groups, like the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, say more than 7,000 people were killed.
By late Sunday, students said they planned to continue their protests for a third day, with students in the city of Isfahan vowing to join Tuesday. “We neither forgive nor forget,” a student group said.
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