Woman in Tehran praises students for reigniting protests after bloody crackdown
#Iran protests #Tehran #students #crackdown #U.S. military #Trump #human rights #regime change
📌 Key Takeaways
- Students across Iranian universities have reignited protests despite previous deadly crackdown
- An unnamed woman in Tehran praises students as brave for demonstrating with symbols that carry death penalty
- The protester feels guilt at being alive while thousands have been killed in previous demonstrations
- The woman expresses hope for U.S. military intervention to help bring down the regime
- She urges President Trump to fulfill his promise of help rather than pursue negotiations
📖 Full Retelling
As Iran's new academic year began over the weekend, an unnamed woman in Tehran praised students across the country's universities for their bravery in reigniting protests against the clerical regime, openly challenging government authorities despite the bloody nationwide crackdown in December and January that killed thousands. The protests represent the first sustained campus unrest since the previous government crackdown, which according to the Virginia-based Human Rights Activists News Agency resulted in more than 7,000 confirmed deaths, with over 11,000 others missing or with unknown whereabouts. The woman, who spoke to CBS News while hiding her identity with a scarf and sunglasses, expressed both admiration for the protesters and personal guilt at surviving while others died. 'They are not stupid, they are brave,' she stated, noting that students are openly displaying the pre-revolutionary flag and chanting 'Javid Shah' (Long live the shah), acts that carry the death penalty in Iran. The protester described witnessing firsthand the violence of the previous demonstrations, recalling seeing people lying dead in Tehran streets after being shot and watching a young woman being shot twice. Despite the danger, she feels compelled to continue protesting, stating 'Our most fear is to witness this regime be in power again, so we go and we protest again and again and again.' She expressed particular hope regarding the significant U.S. military buildup in the region, including the movement of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier closer to the Middle East, calling it 'the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War.' The protester specifically addressed President Trump, recalling his promise that 'help is on the way' and urging him to fulfill that promise rather than pursue negotiations with what she called a terrorist government.
🏷️ Themes
Protests, Government repression, International intervention
📚 Related People & Topics
Tehran
Capital and largest city of Iran
Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is also the capital of Tehran province and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District. With a population of around 9 million in the city, and 16.8 million in the metropolitan area, Tehran is the most populous city in Iran a...
Donald Trump
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. Born into a wealthy New York City family, Trump graduated from the...
Entity Intersection Graph
Connections for Iran protests:
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Donald Trump
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Student activism
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State media
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Islamic republic
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Sharif University of Technology
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Original Source
World Iran protests ignite again; woman in Tehran says students are brave for demonstrating after bloody crackdown By Ramy Inocencio Ramy Inocencio Correspondent Ramy Inocencio is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in London, covering Europe and the Middle East. He joined the Network in 2019 as CBS News' Asia correspondent, based in Beijing and reporting across the Asia-Pacific, bringing two decades of experience working and traveling between Asia and the United States. Read Full Bio Ramy Inocencio February 23, 2026 / 5:25 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google 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 bloody nationwide crackdown in December and January. The Virginia-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said more than 7,000 people have been confirmed killed, while the whereabouts and safety of more than 11,000 others remain unknown. The new flare-ups, which began Saturday, 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 . Now, for a third straight day, student protests have broken out. "They are not stupid, they are brave," said one anti-government protester who CBS News was able to make contact with in 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 death penalty and prison. So they are brave to do this. They're not stupid." The politically charged phrase "Javid Shah" means "Long live the shah." It refers to Iran's last monarch, Mohammed Reza Palavi, who was deposed during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Inside Iran — and at demonstrations abroad — a vocal monarchist movement has been advocating for his son, Reza Pahlavi , to assume leadership should Ayatoll...
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