Name: Iran students stage first large anti-government protests since deadly crackdown | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-02-22T23:01:51.000Z
Duration: 6 min 39 s
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And students from several universities have been taken to the streets for a second day of anti government protests.

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These are the first such rallies on this scale since last month's deadly crackdown by the authorities in which thousands of people were killed.

The BBC has verified footage of students clashing with pro government groups at the beginning of the new term in the capital, Tehran.

Let's get this round up from our World News correspondent Jo Inward.

This was not a return to the mass uprising that gripped Iran in January.

But these scenes filmed in Tehran this morning are a public show of dissent from protesters who faced extreme violence just weeks ago.

At Sharif University in the capital, they raised the flag of the Shah, an anti regime symbol.

There have been counter demonstrations by pro government groups.

It all comes as the US Continues to move air and naval forces into the region.

It's the biggest such build up since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Trump administration is engaged in negotiations with Iran over their nuclear program.

But under the threat of military action, Tehran held drills in the last few days, an attempt to show it would resist if attacked.

The country's president said they will not give in to threats.

We will not bow down in the face of any of these difficulties.

World powers are lining up with cowardice to force us to bow our heads.

During January's protest, Donald Trump said that if people were attacked, he would intervene when they were killed in their thousands.

Jo Inwood, BBC News well, let's speak to David Schenker, a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

We'll talk about the situation on the ground in Iran in a moment because it's important to discuss what's going on with the students right now.

But first of all, the comments from Steve Witkoff says President Trump's questioning why Iran hasn't backed down.

I mean, the US has been trying to apply pressure.

So far that pressure hasn't been a military one, but that is potentially on the horizon.

Listen, this is Trump's President Trump's playbook, which is essentially mass, huge amount of forces and wait for capitulation.

And Iran does not appear ready to take the knee on this.

They're going to push this to the very end, but

they're not apparently ready to make any type of significant concession on the nuclear front.

We talk about these indirect talks that happened last week in Switzerland.

There's a possibility of more on the horizon.

You hear from both sides saying progress is made, but it's clearly not enough progress.

Yeah, I think the President really backed himself into a corner.

This was all about protecting the protesters.

We dispatched an armada to the region and then it became about the denuclearization or ending enrichment, sending out highly enriched uranium.

And now the President has given a 10 to 14 day timeline or ultimatum for Iranian capitulation.

There are huge amount of forces, aircraft in the region and the President's got several options about what he can do.

But one thing is for sure, he doesn't want to be compared to President Obama after the red line in Syria where he threatened and didn't respond.

In that case, how soon do you think there could be US military action?

Because in the last 2448 hours there's been a lot of speculation about whether something might have even happened this weekend.

And of course we haven't seen anything yet.

Yeah, President Trump is rather unpredictable.

He did this, I recall a year or so ago and then didn't wait for the timeline to expire, but

So it could be at any time or it could be not at all.

The Iranians will try and string out this negotiation and try and get the President and the administration to accept a deal that it's called jcpoa minus a nuclear deal that doesn't include all the provisions that President Obama got.

And we don't know because I think the President is somewhat reticent to use force.

And let's talk about what's happening on the ground.

It's an important reminder of what happened at the start of the year with that brutal crackdown on anti government protests.

And at the time, of course, President Trump did say he would come to the assistance of protesters if that crackdown continued.

That doesn't look like that's the terms of these talks.

He threatened military action around the nuclear deal.

So in some ways has the US Administration kind of taken their eye off what's going on when it comes to human rights, in your assessment?

Listen, the Iranian youth is pretty savvy.

I think they understand that if they go back to the streets and there are once again massacres, that the President may turn his attention back to human rights and this may become a reason for US strikes on Iran.

But the fact is that there has been really a mismanagement of the country.

There's no water and Tehran and high levels of unemployment, dissatisfaction with this government.

So I think the kids, the youth, the people are going to continue coming out.

Let's see if this is part of the calculation for President Trump about whether or whether or not use force.

David Schenker, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on a story that, of course, is very unpredictable.

But of course, it's important also to discuss what's happening on the ground in Iran.