Iran protests resurface at universities as war risk persists
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Protests swept Iran in January over worsening living conditions and state failures, sparking nationwide calls for an end to the country’s clerical leadership.
PHOTO: AFP
TEHRAN - Students in Iran staged anti-government rallies at several universities for a second day, testing a fragile calm imposed after the deadly crackdown on protests in January
Footage published on social media on Feb 22 showed chants directed at the country’s leadership, calls for the release of political detainees, and clashes between demonstrators and security forces at universities across Tehran and other cities.
Protests swept Iran in January over worsening living conditions and state failures, sparking nationwide calls for an end to the country’s clerical leadership. The government responded with a sweeping crackdown, marking the deadliest suppression in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Videos from Tehran’s Amir Kabir University of Technology, a long-time protest hot spot, showed students clashing with Basij militias, a state-backed volunteer paramilitary force. Footage from Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology in Tehran showed students chanting: “We fight, we die, we will take Iran back.”
Other videos showed anti-government slogans at Ferdowsi University in the north-eastern city of Mashhad.
Gatherings also continued for a second day at several other campuses, including Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, where social media posts showed students on Feb 21 chanting against Iran’s rulers and in support of the exiled son of Iran’s Shah, who was deposed after the 1979 revolution.
None of the footage could be independently verified by Bloomberg.
The protests come as the country continues to grapple with economic strains and remains under the threat of potential US military strikes. On Feb 22, the rial traded at around 1.65 million rial (S$1.63) to the US dollar in the unregulated market, a record low and almost 14 per cent weaker than the sharp depreciation in late December that initially sparked the protests.
In January, US President Donald Trump expressed support for Iranian protesters, stating that “help is on its way” as he warned Tehran of military action if it continued to suppress demonstrators.
In recent weeks, Mr Trump has continued to deploy US military assets to the Middle East, and on Feb 20, he warned that Iran has a 10- to 15-day window to reach a new nuclear agreement to avert US strikes.
On Feb 22, Reuters cited a senior Iranian official, who was not identified, as saying the next round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington is set for early March.
The official added that Iran could consider exporting part of its highly enriched uranium stockpile, diluting the purity of its enriched material, and participating in a regional consortium for uranium enrichment if it maintains its “peaceful nuclear enrichment”.
Iranian officials have accused the US and Israel of plotting and fuelling unrest. But the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, indirectly acknowledged the role of his security forces in the killings during a public meeting on Feb 17.
He said that he was “grieving” for those who died in the unrest, but added that “wherever the bullet came from, it occurred amid the enemy’s sedition”. BLOOMBERG
