The risks are great – and could even be deadly – for Mohammad, an Iranian civil engineering student, who daily joins thousands of university students in anti-regime protests that have erupted once again, despite the deadliest crackdown on dissent in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Amid these dangers and frequent clashes with hardline opposition students and regime agents on his Tehran campus, Mohammad says he is motivated to restore momentum to the nationwide protests that were brutally crushed on January 8 and 9.
Mohammad also feels obligated, he says, to honor the memory of the at least 7,000 Iranian citizens who human rights activists confirmed were killed during that crackdown, to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain.
Why do we write this?
After anti-regime protests were suppressed with unprecedented lethality, students at more than half a dozen Iranian universities have bravely protested for days, despite the hardline leadership’s description of all protesters as “terrorists” and “criminals.”
“After the recent bloodshed, the regime thought we would withdraw,” says Mohammad, a tall, bookish student at Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, who wears glasses and close-cropped black hair, and asks, for his protection, that his real name not be used.
Friends were shot to death
“Our message is that this regime cannot get away with this, and furthermore, we are here to maintain the momentum necessary for its downfall,” says Mohammad. “If we allow them to breathe, give them a break, they will strengthen themselves and come back with greater savagery.”
It’s a brave stand, taken by Mohammad and students at more than half a dozen universities for six days so far, in the shadow of an attempt by Iran’s hardline leaders and Revolutionary Guard commanders to portray all protesters as “terrorists” and “criminals” working for American and Israeli intelligence.
Among those killed in the January crackdown were two of Mohammad’s friends, who were shot dead on the streets of Tehran. He has strong words for Iran’s intransigent leadership, as well as disdain for US President Donald Trump, who encouraged Iranian protesters and promised “rescue” but has yet to act.
Amid Trump’s threats to attack Iran, the US military has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups and dozens of fighter jets across the region. Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States that could prevent war resumed in Geneva on Thursday, but the nuclear talks are not getting to the point, many protesters say.
“This murderous cult”
“Our presence tells the world that despite the horrific murders, we are determined to expel this murderous sect, to show bravery in a time of mourning,” says Mohammad. “The regime’s murders add fuel to our fire. What really kills us is fear. Fear is lethal. If we retreat, we are technically dead, this movement will be drowned and we will betray all the blood spilled in our streets and alleys.”
University students are a particular Achilles heel for the regime, and are very carefully monitored and controlled, as it was the students who led the protests that ultimately led to Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, which overthrew the shah and paved the way for the Islamic Republic.
Videos of clashes this week at universities show regime supporters dressed in civilian clothes basij The militia physically beat the students and even attempted to climb a tree to remove a small hanging effigy of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the form of a rat. Some Iranians nickname Khamenei “Rat Ali” because he hid in a bunker during a 12-day war with Israel and the United States last June.
“As soon as we started converging, they came out of their nests,” Mohammad says of the pro-regime students and enforcers. “They were on alert, very organized, carrying flags of the regime. But in terms of numbers, they have always been a minority, although a very, very loud, fierce and violent minority.”
He saw two friends bleeding from the head, beaten with stones. Some basijis They are armed with guns.
Still waiting for an intervention
“At student meetings I want to highlight boldness,” says Mohammad. “The slogans we chant have never been so frank and radical against Khamenei… We are chanting for his departure, as are millions of our fellow Iranians. This is a unified call for punishment and regime change, and I have never seen this level of cohesion before.”
As for Trump, Mohammad questions why the president encouraged them if he wasn’t ready to attack.
“People were motivated because they thought that kadkhoda (the village chief) is there to support them; He is the one who makes the decisions,” says Mohammad. “We are still waiting for his intervention, but if he had acted in time, many, many lives would have been saved.
“I personally don’t see (Trump) as a hero,” he says. “He has no justification for his inaction, and failure to act is not just a question of credibility: it could mean emboldening the regime; I would say giving it insurance cover for years to come.”
An Iranian researcher contributed to this report..
