For a second straight day, students across Tehran commemorated those killed in a brutal crackdown that left thousands dead last month

By Benoit Faucon

Feb. 22, 2026 1:01 pm ET

Students at universities across Tehran clashed with pro-regime demonstrators on Sunday, as anger over a brutal government crackdown spilled onto university campuses for a second straight day in a sign of rising unrest.

Verified footage showed students chanting slogans on Sunday commemorating those killed and calling for the fall of the regime were met by opposing demonstrations, the pro-regime Fars and Mehr news agencies reported, with the two sides scuffling at some locations. 

Opposing student demonstrators attacked each other at Amirkabir University of Technology, also in the capital, according to footage verified by The Wall Street Journal and posted by the Amirkabir Newsletter, a pro-opposition student group. 

The renewal of protests suggests Iran’s leaders will continue to face popular unrest despite last month’s crackdown. While the repression had an initial chilling effect on the demonstrations, it also gave Iranians another reason to oppose their theocratic rulers.

The unrest comes as the Islamic Republic is facing a possible U.S. attack amid unsuccessful efforts to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday he is hoping to meet American officials Thursday in Geneva to discuss a new proposal to end the dispute, according to an interview with CBS News.

The protesters at Sharif faced off with a large group of pro-regime demonstrators, who burned the American and Israeli flags and a picture of President Trump, according to footage verified by Storyful, which is owned by the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, News Corp. 

Student members of the Basij—a pro-government volunteer militia—had warned they would try to wrestle control of the university back from antiregime protesters. “The aware and vigilant student still considers themselves the guardian of the university scene and will prevent enemy exploitation, God willing,” Sharif University’s Basij said on its social-media account early Sunday.

Members of the militias get priority to enter elite universities, making centers of learning politically polarized institutions.  

WSJ