Iran Protests Surge: Students Demand Regime Change Amid US Military Buildup

Campus Protests Erupt Across Iran as U.S. Military Presence Increases

As Iran’s new academic year began over the weekend, large-scale protests erupted across several universities – the first sustained campus unrest since the clerical regime’s crackdown in December and January.

The protests openly challenge the government to suppress dissent once again, even as the final death toll from the earlier wave of violence has yet to be made official, with tens of thousands feared dead. For a third straight day, student protests have broken out across the country.

“They are not stupid, they are brave,” said one anti-government protester who spoke to CBS News from Tehran. “Because as you see in the protests in universities, there is the flag of the sun and the lion and they are chanting ‘Javid Shah.’ For both of these elements, they have (the) death penalty and prison. So they are brave to do this. They’re not stupid.”

The phrase “Javid Shah” means “Long live the shah” and refers to Iran’s last monarch, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was deposed during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. A monarchist movement is advocating for his son, Reza Pahlavi, to assume leadership should Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the clerical establishment fall.

At Iran’s universities, there have also been pro-regime demonstrations and at least one violent clash between opposing groups. The protester who spoke to CBS News said that speaking out risks prison or death. But with so many protesters killed, she said she feels guilt at still being alive.

“I am so ashamed, I am as (a) human, so ashamed that other people go out on (the) street and got killed — and I’m alive right now,” she said. “So I want my grief to be a voice for my people.”

She said she was among the many Iranians who protested last month in all of the country’s 31 provinces and nearly 200 cities. On Jan. 8, in Tehran, she said, “I saw people lying in the streets because they were shot. They were dead.” The next day, she said, “I witnessed a girl was shot two times and I was so afraid that I came back home.”

“Our most fear is to witness this regime be in power again, so we go and we protest again and again and again,” she said.

The protester asked not to be named for fear of government reprisal. She covered her face and eyes with a scarf and dark sunglasses during the interview. CBS News verified she was in Iran. She also displayed a live news program showing the current time in the country and said she and many Iranians are closely watching the significant U.S. Military buildup around their region.

“I want to see military intervention into Iran,” she said.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the most advanced U.S. Aircraft carrier, sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar over the weekend and is now in the Mediterranean Sea, moving closer to the Middle East. The Ford and its strike group joined the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its accompanying vessels, creating what officials describe as the largest U.S. Military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War.

“I feel very hopeful. I’m not scared at all,” the protester said. “I feel happy about the shift that the United States is bringing here. I want from God to begin a war in here. I’m not a person of war interest but in this situation, we don’t have any other chance.”

She believes that if U.S. Military intervention comes to Iran, “many people will go out” to protest and attempt to bring down the regime.

With President Trump preparing to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, she had a message for him — and hopes he has one for Iran.

“President Trump, you told us that help is on the way,” she said. “You promised us that you will help us go through this. They don’t stop executions in Iran. There was 11 people executed just today. Go on your promise and help us.”

She said she does not want negotiations between the U.S. And Iran and called Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi “a terrorist.”

The next round of indirect talks, mediated by Oman, is scheduled to take place in Geneva on Thursday.