| The Sun-and-Lion Returns on Campus
Artist: Ahmad Barakizadeh
Over the past week, Iran’s students have emerged as the standard bearers of the 2026 Sun-and-Lion Revolution.
In Jan. 2026, the Islamic Republic responded to nationwide protests with unprecedented and historic brute force. Universities were among the first targets. Closing classrooms and dorms was not about public safety, but about suffocating dissent. Rather than disappearing, the uprising went underground and waited.
Then, on the fortieth-day memorials for those killed, the movement surged back, like the Phoenix rising from its ashes. Mourning turned into opposition. Families sang and danced, and crowds responded with chants, revealing a society that not only refused to crumble but hardened in the face of loss.
When in-person classes resumed, students carried that momentum on campus. Dressed in black, they turned university campuses into spaces for protest. They chanted: “Death to the dictator,” “Political prisoners must be freed,” “Woman, Life, Freedom,” as well as “Long live the Shah” and “This is the final battle—Pahlavi will return.”
On Feb. 23, they burned the Islamic Republic’s flag and raised the Sun-and-Lion banner. Then came the clearest sign that things had changed.
They hung mouse dolls with turbans, dubbed “Moosh-Ali,” to mock the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Security forces rushed to tear them down. The message was clear: a regime confident in its legitimacy does not tremble before a symbolic effigy.
Iran’s student movement has recast Iran’s campuses into the revolution’s beating heart.
Welcome to the Kayhan Life Week in Review
This week’s Iran coverage traced a single through-line: the risk of a U.S.–Iran clash is rising at the same time the Islamic Republic’s post-January crackdown is still rippling through hospitals, courtrooms, universities, and workplaces. As Tehran hardens its posture, Washington and other capitals act as if a wider confrontation is no longer theoretical.
►Iranian medical staff described “apocalyptic” Jan. 8–9 scenes, with unusually high numbers of gunshot victims and trauma that felt closer to wartime than peacetime care, adding harrowing detail to accounts of the crackdown.
EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Medical Staff Describe Horrors of January Crackdown
►Another Kayhan Life exclusive revealed that teenage wrestler Saleh Mohammadi has been sentenced to public execution over the killing of an officer, while the case file includes no evidence linking him to the officer’s death, and reports point to the young athlete being forced to deliver self-incriminating statements under coercion and duress.
EXCLUSIVE: 18-Year-Old Iranian Wrestler Faces Public Execution After Protest
►Universities are again becoming political engines. Reports describe renewed student protests, coordinated groups, and potent symbols—while an opinion essay by Navid Sahraei and Mahya Ostovar argues this generation is building a broader, future-focused opposition that sidesteps old factional labels.
University Students Mount Fearless Protests in Iran, Voice Support for Reza Pahlavi
OPINION: Iran’s University Students Are Redefining Opposition to Regime
►An analysis piece by Kayhan Life’s Roshanak Astaraki highlighted Iran’s steep gender employment gap and argued that the uprising’s aftermath—security pressure, disruption, and uncertainty—has further damaged women’s job prospects, with women often first to be laid off and underrepresented in leadership.
ANALYSIS: Security Crackdown Worsens Job Prospects for Women in Iran
►U.S. President Donald Trump laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.
Trump Lays Out Case for Possible Attack on Iran in State of the Union
►U.S. officials described advanced strike planning that could target individual Iranian leaders and even contemplate regime change—raising the stakes if diplomacy fails and making escalation feel more imminent.
EXCLUSIVE-US Strikes on Iran Could Target Individual Leaders, Officials Say
►Precautionary moves rippled across capitals: the U.S. reduced its footprint in Beirut, and multiple countries warned citizens against travel to Iran or urged departures—signs that governments expect any U.S.–Iran clash to spill across the region.
US Pulling Non-Essential Staff from Embassy in Beirut amid Iran Tensions
Countries Issuing Middle East Travel Advisories as Iran Tensions Rise
►Tehran is reinforcing deterrence on multiple fronts. Reports describe near-completion of a deal for Chinese supersonic anti-ship missiles and a separate Russian shoulder-fired missile package—capabilities that could complicate U.S. naval operations.
Iran Agreed Secret Shoulder-Fired Missile Deal with Russia, FT Reports
EXCLUSIVE – Iran Nears Deal to Buy Supersonic Anti-Ship Missiles from China
►The Netherlands summoned Iran’s ambassador over the seizure of a Dutch diplomat’s luggage at Tehran airport, while Japan demanded the swift release of a detained Japanese national identified as an NHK bureau chief.
Netherlands Summons Iranian Ambassador over Seizure of Diplomatic Luggage
Japan Demands Swift Release of National Detained in Iran |
