Iranian Student Movement: From Leftist Roots to Nationalist Shift

Origins: early protest culture and the constitutional revolution

Iran’s tradition of collective action goes back to the late‐19th and early‐20th centuries. Under the Qajar monarchy, the bazaar was the nexus of public life, and merchants and guild leaders used petitions and general strikes when they had no formal voice in government. Protests escalated in 1905–1911 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution: demonstrations involved not only merchants but also students and clerics. These diverse groups defied the shah’s forces in Tabriz and elsewhere, defending constitutionalism and eventually forcing Mozaffar al‑Din Shah to sign a constitution in 1906. Contemporary sources noted that the monarchy’s use of violence against students, clergymen and soldiers increased resistance rather than quelling it. During this era, students were part of a larger coalition that sought constitutionalism rather than a defined ideological platform; their identity as a distinct “student movement” emerged in later decades.

Pahlavi era: growth of universities and left‑wing activism (1941–1978)

Expansion of universities and early protests

After Reza Shah’s abdication (1941), the new monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, expanded universities and scholarships. The University of Tehran (founded in 1934) symbolized modernization and national identity. Student enrolment grew and so did political activism; by the early 1950s, Iran had about 200,000 students abroad, many involved in opposition politics. The first major confrontation between students and the Pahlavi state occurred on 7 December 1953 (16 Azar 1332). Following the CIA–MI6 coup that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, University of Tehran students protested the visit of U.S. Vice‑President Richard Nixon and the resumption of diplomatic relations with Britain. Police fired on demonstrators, killing three students. This massacre became Iran’s Student Day (16 Azar), commemorated annually as a symbol of anti‑imperialism.

Confederation of Iranian Students (CISNU)

State repression after the 1953 coup crushed domestic opposition, but a student movement abroad emerged. In the early 1960s, economic difficulties in Iran and President Kennedy’s pressure on the shah encouraged political activism. Iranian students in Europe formed the Confederation of Iranian Students in 1960, which became the Confederation of Iranian Students, National Union (CISNU) in 1962. The Confederation represented students abroad and in Iran, coordinating chapters in Europe and the United States. Founding members included Hamid Enayat, Mehrdad Bahār, Manouchehr Tābetīān, Homāyūn Kātūzīān, Khosrow Shakeri, Parviz Nikkhvah, and many others; some later became ministers or prominent intellectuals. The group initially espoused constitutionalism but radicalized in the mid‑1960s. New Marxist‑Leninist factions (e.g., Storm, Sāzmān‑e Enqelābī‑ye Hezb‑e Tudeh) gained influence inside CISNU. CISNU opposed the Pahlavi regime, cooperated with human‑rights organizations and revolutionary movements, and by the early 1970s encouraged armed struggle against the monarchy. The Confederation grew alongside the diaspora: Iranian students abroad increased from about 4,000 (1957) to 31,000 (1965) and roughly 100,000 (1978). Exposure to global leftist movements and the Vietnam War influenced their anti‑imperialist orientation.

Leftist activism inside Iran

Inside Iran, university campuses became hotbeds of activism despite SAVAK repression. Student organizations allied with leftist parties (Tudeh, National Front, Mojahedin‑e Khalq and Fedayeen‑e Khalq) staged demonstrations against political repression, the shah’s White Revolution, and the presence of U.S. advisers. The shah’s modernization policies created a large educated class that resented authoritarianism; historian Nikki Keddie notes that “a large educated and student class and newly politicized class of urban poor” formed the backbone of mass politics leading up to the 1979 revolution.

Role in the 1979 revolution

By the late 1970s, universities were deeply politicized. Diverse groups—including Marxists, Islamic leftists and nationalists—mobilized students. Anti-Shah protests accelerated after the 1975–1977 uprisings in Qom and Tehran, culminating in mass demonstrations in 1978. Students joined workers and clerics in nationwide strikes and protests. Iranian students abroad amplified these efforts by organizing rallies and lobbying Western governments. Many activists returned to Iran to participate in the revolution. When the monarchy collapsed in February 1979, leftist and Islamist student organizations initially cooperated. In November 1979, radical Islamic students—some affiliated with the new Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar‑e Tahkim‑e Vahdat, DTV)—seized the U.S. embassy, taking 52 American diplomats hostage. This act, orchestrated by cleric Mousavi Khoeiniha, gave the Islamic left immense cultural capital on campuses.

The Cultural Revolution and Islamisation of universities (1980s)

The revolutionary regime quickly turned against its former allies. Between 1980 and 1983, the Cultural Revolutionary Headquarters closed universities for over two years to purge secular and leftist influences. Thousands of professors and students were dismissed, and Islamic ideology was incorporated into curricula. The Daftar‑e Tahkim‑e Vahdat became the regime’s main student organization, while Basij units were established on campuses in 1992 to mobilize loyalist students. Many leftist groups (including the Mojahedin and Fedayeen) were outlawed, their members executed or exiled. Universities reopened in 1983 under strict Islamic rules and quotas favouring veterans and Basij members, altering the social composition of students. Despite this, universities remained spaces of dissent; liberal philosophers such as Abdolkarim Soroush and Mohsen Kadivar lectured on democracy and pluralism, influencing student thinking.

From reformist activism to the 1999 student uprising

During the 1990s, Iran’s student movement shifted from revolutionary to reformist politics. The DTV, which had supported the Islamic Republic, gradually became a critic of authoritarianism. In the 1997 presidential election, students mobilized behind the reformist candidate Mohammad Khatami, helping him win by a landslide. However, the closure of the reformist newspaper Salam in July 1999 sparked the Tehran University dormitory uprising. Thousands of students protested; security forces and plain‑clothed vigilantes raided dormitories, killing at least one student and injuring hundreds. The crackdown led to the first major post‑revolution challenge to the regime, planting seeds for the 2009 Green Movement.

The Green Movement and continued dissent (2000s–2010s)

Students played a critical role in the 2009 Green Movement following the disputed re‑election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Universities hosted large protests; student activists collaborated with reformist politicians and opposition leaders. The regime responded with arrests and expulsions, yet campuses remained spaces of political discussion. Throughout the 2010s, students also mobilized on issues such as labour rights, environmental degradation and gender equality. The influence of social media enabled decentralised organising beyond official student bodies.

The Woman, Life, Freedom (Mahsa) movement (2022–present)

Catalytic protests and repression

The death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in morality police custody in September 2022 ignited the largest protests since 2009. Students were at the forefront. According to a report by the Global Student Forum, protests began at the University of Tehran on 18 September 2022 and spread to Amirkabir University of Technology the next day. Over the following months, more than 570 student demonstrations were recorded, with participation from over 70 thousand students. The regime responded by ordering universities to run classes virtually, deploying security forces, and conducting mass arrests. On 2 October 2022 (“Black Sunday”) at Sharif University of Technology, security forces used paintball guns and air guns against students and barricaded them inside the campus. The report notes that by March 2024, over 804 students had been arrested. Despite repression, students continued protests, removing hijabs, chanting for “woman, life, freedom,” and connecting gender rights to broader calls for secularism and democracy.

Factions and ideological diversity

During the Mahsa movement, the student landscape was fragmented. Some students retained reformist or leftist ideals, demanding democratic accountability and gender equality. Others embraced more radical anti‑regime positions, including nationalist and monarchist factions. Conservative student groups, including the Basij, tried to repress protests and frame them as foreign conspiracies. This diversity reflected both generational change and the erosion of the Islamic left’s hegemony in universities.

Recent shift toward nationalism and pre‑revolutionary symbols (2024–2026)

By 2024–2025, the student movement witnessed a dramatic nationalist turn. Reports from Iran International and DW document that students at major universities—including the University of Tehran, Amirkabir University, and Sharif University—formed “Lion and Sun associations,” raised the pre‑1979 Lion and Sun flag and banners of the former imperial state, and burned the flag of the Islamic Republic. Protesters chanted monarchist slogans such as “Javid Shah” (“Long live the Shah”) and called for exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi to return. Some demanded that universities revert to their pre‑revolutionary names—for example, Aryamehr University (now Sharif University), Farah Pahlavi University (Isfahan University of Technology) and Melli (National) University (Shahid Beheshti University). Students argued that these names reflected their national heritage and rejected the Islamic Republic’s symbolism. Authorities responded by suspending or arresting students and threatened legal action.

Several factors explain this rightward shift:

1. Disillusionment with the Islamic left – After decades of Islamisation and suppression of dissent, many students no longer identify with leftist ideology. The former student organization DTV lost relevance, while Basij units were seen as instruments of repression.
2. Generational memory – Younger students did not experience the monarchy but have been exposed to diaspora media praising the Pahlavi era. The monarchy is re‑imagined as a period of secularism, stability and national pride, contrasted with the Islamic Republic’s repression and economic decline.
3. Nationalist discourse – The Mahsa movement emphasized “Iranian” identity over religious identity. Calls for reclaiming pre‑Islamic symbols and the Lion and Sun flag reflect a search for a secular and nationalist narrative. Students who support monarchy argue that only a secular national government can guarantee women’s rights and independence.

Faces and political orientations over time

Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911): In this period, students stood alongside merchants and clerics, while figures such as Sattar Khan and Baskerville served as important inspirations for young people. Their political orientation and activity centred on defending constitutionalism, joining militias in Tabriz, and resisting Qajar autocracy.

Pahlavi era pre-1953: During this period, the main student base was the University of Tehran, and early activists included Mossadegh supporters and other nationalists. Their core activities focused on campaigning for the nationalization of oil and protesting imperialism.

1950s–1970s: In these decades, major student organizations included CISNU, the Iranian Students Association (ISAUS), and leftist groups such as Tudeh, Fedayeen, and Mojahedin. Key figures included Ali Shariati, Bahman Nirumand, Sadeq Qotbzadeh, Mostafa Chamran, and Abu’l-Hasan Banisadr. Politically, this generation began with a more constitutionalist orientation, then moved toward Marxist-Leninist and anti-imperialist positions. Students in this period organized global protests, and some currents also advocated armed struggle.

1979 Revolution: In the lead-up to and during the revolution, student actors included DTV (Office for Strengthening Unity), secular leftists, and Islamists. Key figures included Mousavi Khoeiniha, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, and Habibollah Bitaraf from the Islamic left, alongside Marxist figures such as Masoud Rajavi of the Mojahedin. Their political role was shaped by a united front against the shah: students helped mobilize mass demonstrations, and some were involved in the seizure of the U.S. embassy.

1980s Cultural Revolution: In this phase, organizations such as the Basij, the Islamic wing of DTV, and various Islamization committees became dominant on campuses. Their political orientation was centred on purging secular and leftist elements, imposing Islamic codes, and placing universities under the control of loyalist organizations.

1990s–2000s: During these years, the key student forces included DTV (reformist faction), independent student councils, and the Basij. Reformist intellectuals such as Abdolkarim Soroush and Mohsen Kadivar also influenced the ideological climate. Politically, this period marked a shift from revolutionary rhetoric toward demands for democracy and the rule of law, with students playing a key role in the 1999 uprising and the 2009 Green Movement.

Mahsa movement (2022–2024): In this period, activism was led by decentralized student groups, women’s rights activists, some Basij elements, and diaspora networks. The political focus was on gender equality, secularism, and the end of clerical rule. Campuses again became central protest sites, with more than 570 demonstrations and 804 arrests reported.

Recent nationalist/monarchist associations (2024–2026): In the most recent phase, groups such as the “Lion and Sun associations,” supporters of Reza Pahlavi, and online monarchist influencers have become more visible. Their activities and symbolism include raising the Lion and Sun flag, burning the Islamic Republic flag, and calling for the restoration of monarchical symbols and names.

Conclusion: from leftist vanguard to nationalist reorientation

The Iranian student movement has evolved dramatically over the last century. It began as part of a broad coalition seeking constitutional limits on monarchical power. During the Pahlavi era, the expansion of higher education produced a vibrant left‑wing student movement both inside Iran and abroad. These students championed nationalization, anti‑imperialism and social justice, and some gravitated towards Marxism and armed struggle. The 1979 revolution gave Islamic leftists dominance, but the subsequent Cultural Revolution and establishment of loyalist structures (Basij, DTV) curtailed diversity and suppressed secular voices. By the 1990s, students revived reformist politics and demanded democracy, culminating in the 1999 and 2009 uprisings. The Mahsa movement re-energized campuses around gender equality and secularism, while heavy repression spurred radicalization.

In the mid‑2020s, a new nationalist/monarchist faction emerged, reflecting deep disenchantment with the Islamic Republic and the leftist ideologies that once dominated campuses. This faction’s embrace of the Lion and Sun flag, calls to restore pre‑revolutionary names, and support for Reza Pahlavi signal a shift towards secular nationalism. Whether this rightward trend will redefine Iran’s student politics or coexist with other currents remains to be seen. What is clear is that Iranian students—regardless of ideology—continue to be at the forefront of the country’s struggles for freedom and identity.