Iran unrest escalates as gunfire, tear gas hit universities amid looming US strike

Tensions flared Sunday crossed Iran arsenic anti-government protests reignited astatine large universities and successful the streets of Tehran, with reports of teardrop state and shots fired successful the capital.

Students gathered successful Tehran and the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad to people 40-day memorials for those killed during January’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations earlier unit broke out.

Ali Safavi, a subordinate of Iran’s Parliament-in-Exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital anti-government protests astatine the University of Tehran featured chants specified as, "This is the twelvemonth of blood," and noted that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) changeable astatine protesters astatine different determination successful the city.

"At Khajeh Nasir University successful Tehran, students trampled connected Khamenei’s picture, portion akin acts took spot astatine Ferdowsi and Sajjad universities," Safavi said.

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Student protesters successful Iran clash with authorities. (Simay Azadi/Iranntv.com)

"Students were shouting ‘death to the oppressor, whether the Shah oregon the Leader,’ portion successful Tehran’s Vali Asr Street forces fired astatine the crowds, which were mostly young people," helium added.

Safavi besides claimed that 2 motorcycle units composed of men and women affiliated with absorption groups paraded done parts of Tehran carrying flags of the National Liberation Army (NLA), the equipped helping associated with the NCRI.

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Buses that were burned during Iran's protests, successful Tehran, Iran, Jan. 21, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

In a connection circulated online, assemblage students besides condemned what they described arsenic renewed attempts by authorities to suppress dissent.

"Once again we spot that the tainted hands of monopolists question to crook this ineffable abstraction into a playground for reactionary forces," the connection read. "We who person tasted the bitter acquisition of repression judge nary signifier of dictatorship, whether with a turban oregon with boots," it said.

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Demonstrators pain pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei extracurricular the Iranian embassy during a rally successful enactment of nationwide protests successful Iran, successful London, Jan. 12, 2026.  (Toby Melville/Reuters)

Iran's authorities TV showed videos of what it said were radical "pretending to beryllium students" attacking pro-government students successful Tehran who were taking portion successful protests to condemn January's protests.

The individuals were allegedly injuring students by throwing rocks, Reuters reported.

Some witnesser accounts and absorption groups described a much forceful effect by authorities.

Security forces reportedly fired teardrop state astatine crowds of demonstrators, galore of them young people. 

At different locations, the protesters besides confronted groups of pro-regime demonstrators.

Reports from absorption sources indicated that shots were besides fired arsenic information units attempted to disperse gatherings that had spilled beyond field grounds into surrounding streets.

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Nighttime mobilizations besides continued for a 2nd time, with large-scale protests reported crossed respective campuses.

The clashes marked 1 of the astir disposable displays of unrest since January’s crackdown and came arsenic Iran faces a imaginable subject onslaught by the U.S. and amid ongoing talks to negociate implicit Iran’s atomic program.