Students have once again begun protesting across Iran, this time in response to the country’s education policies and changes to the university entrance requirements, according to reports published by Iranian media, social media videos, and statements from human rights groups over the past few days.
Demonstrations, which began in May but have grown significantly over the past week, have reportedly taken place in West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Tehran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qazvin, Qom, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran, Markazi, and Yazd provinces.
The student protesters have been critical of the Islamic regime’s handling of domestic duties amid the war, with many reportedly feeling that the war’s impact and the closure of academic facilities have not been taken into account when it comes to final assessments or university entrance exams.
Demonstrators are reportedly demanding that the regime cancel the mandatory weighting of 11th-grade GPA scores on the national university entrance exam, according to Iran International.
Students at the Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences have taken particular issue with the quality of food and resources being given to students. As reported by BBC Persian, 75 students were hospitalized after eating at the university last week.
A student told the site that the university’s president told students to eat at restaurants if they were unhappy about the government’s subsidized 1,300 toman meals.
Additionally, Iran’s Shargh newspaper has reported that tens of students have been suspended or expelled from university over their “student activity in cyberspace, including profile content, messages in private groups, or reposting content on social networks.”
Between five and seven students at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology have been expelled, while more than 20 students have been suspended from their studies for between one and three semesters, according to the reformist newspaper.
An additional four students from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences were barred from entering their campus after authorities accused them of “spreading lies,” “publishing images related to the university sit-in,” and “protesting and inviting students to protest gatherings,” according to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
The universities’ actions came amid a broader regime crackdown on online freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Following the brutally suppressed January protests, during which tens of thousands of Iranians were arrested, and human rights organizations say thousands more were killed by security forces, the regime imposed a nearly three-month nationwide internet blackout.
Although internet access has largely been restored following an attempt to introduce a tiered censorship system, civilians report that online content remains heavily restricted.
Individuals who use circumvention tools to access blocked websites told Amnesty International that authorities threatened to charge them with espionage for entering restricted digital spaces, an offense that can carry the death penalty.
Dr. Arman Mahmoudian, a research associate at the University of South Florida’s Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies who completed his undergraduate degree in Tehran, explained to The Jerusalem Post that authorities often identify students as “political troublemakers.”
Such identification can impact their ability to succeed in an academic landscape often connected with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and military intelligence, he said.
“They [the regime’s instruments within the university] usually begin with disciplinary measures: threatening suspension, preventing course registration, delaying graduation, or restricting academic progress.
“In more serious cases, students may be labeled Daneshjuyan-e Setaredar (starred students), meaning they have been officially marked by the system as politically problematic individuals,” he explained.
“This designation can lead to expulsion, denial of degrees, or broader restrictions.”
While the protests have yet to see the same violent suppression as seen in January, Iran International reported that there have been several violent clashes.
An unknown number of students were also reportedly injured during clashes at a protest in the Yazd province. At least one person was arrested at a demonstration in Qom, and staff from the education department were said to have confronted protesters in Saveh.
Mahmoudian said that whether the regime would respond as it did in January would depend largely on the scope and scale of the demonstrations.
“When demonstrations are limited to university-related issues, such as campus or other apolitical issues, the government often tries not to overreact. The authorities are aware that excessive violence can sometimes escalate tensions and spread unrest further,” he explained.
“However, the moment a student movement is perceived as capable of creating a snowball effect, meaning it could trigger wider protests across universities or society at large, the government tends to respond much more harshly. We saw this during the student protests of the late 1990s, when the state relied heavily on blunt force.”
With so many private and public universities, “a nationwide student movement can rapidly expand into a broader social protest movement[s],” said Mahmoudian.
“When student protests emerge in solidarity with larger nationwide protests, such as during the Green Movement, the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, or the more recent unrest in January, the government also tends to adopt a far more forceful approach.
“In these cases, the protests begin outside the universities and later spread into academic spaces, which the authorities see as particularly dangerous.”
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