The Iranian Student Union (ISU) at UC Irvine, in collaboration with the Society of Iranian Graduate Students (SIGS), organized a rally in solidarity with protesters in Iran on campus Feb. 2.
After numerous businesses in Tehran shut down their stores in response to the country’s worsening economic conditions, protests erupted across Iran in Dec. 2025. The shutdowns quickly escalated into nationwide protests that evolved into broader opposition to Iran’s clerical rule.
The demonstrations continued into the new year, but the latest protests were met with “unprecedented” police crackdown, according to Amnesty International. With high uncertainty regarding the death toll, estimates have ranged from 5,000 to 36,500 deaths according to Al Jazeera.
In response to the unrest, ISU and SIGS gathered on the steps of Langson Library to show solidarity with Iranians. The group then marched along Ring Mall, chanting “freedom for Iran” and “be our voice.”
The president of ISU,who asked to remain anonymous, told New University that the rally aimed to amplify the voices of those unable to speak freely in Iran.
“Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Iran because they’ve been protesting regime change,” the ISU president told New University. “We’re here on behalf of them, just being their voice, speaking out on the issue to call for regime change and freedom in Iran.”
When the nationwide protests reached their peak, Iran was plunged into a communications blackout by state authorities on Jan. 8. What followed was a government-imposed internet shutdown that lasted approximately three weeks.
The president of SIGS, who also asked to remain anonymous, told New University that the shutdown isolated Iranians from the rest of the world during the height of the violence.
“They [Iranian people] started the protest and the government shut down the internet, all the communications to the whole world. Even the power, no electricity for a couple of days,” the SIGS president told New University. “Millions of people came to the street to show that they do not want this government. They want to get rid of this government, but they [the state] massacred all of them.”
Protesters held signs reading “Pahlavi is our leader” and “regime change in Iran,” while many waved the former Iranian flag bearing the lion and sun symbol.
The flag, which was used under the reign of the former Shah, has become a symbol of resistance against the current Ayatollah regime.
“The current flag right now is representative of the regime, so a lot of people don’t like to bring that out to protest, and they just use the flag previous, because that’s the only other flag that we have at our disposal,” the ISU president said.
For many protesters, the situation in Iran is deeply personal, as they have direct family members affected by the violence.
“Specifically for grad students, most of their family members, relatives are in Iran. Some of their relatives even have been killed during what happened in Iran,” the SIGS president said.“We need more support from [the] UCI system so that they can — either their advisers, for example — better understand the students.”
Second-year software engineering student Kaveh Zare shared that the uncertainty surrounding his family’s safety has been overwhelming.
“For weeks, we couldn’t hear from them,” Zare told New University. “So we’re all so worried about our family members being killed during the protest.”
Some Iranian students believe U.S. intervention is the only way the situation will improve. President Donald Trump has previously made statements suggesting that the U.S. would intervene if the killings continued.
“We hope that the U.S would strike,” Zare said, “I don’t think that the change can be purely from inside. There needs to be some external forces to some extent because the regime will go to whatever end.“
However, students remain divided over what form international involvement should take.
“So a lot of those who are anti-intervention believe that the sovereignty of the country might be at stake with any sort of intervention,” the ISU president said. “And then there’s a lot of people who are pro-intervention for the reason that people are being killed, and this is something that is time-sensitive, so we need to act now.”
Despite differing opinions, organizers said their ultimate goal remains the same.
“The goal is common,” the ISU president said, “We just want to see a free Iran and see our people happy and free, not getting killed at the hand of anyone.”
Areesha Hasan is a News Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at hasanaf@uci.edu
Edited by Annabelle Aguirre and Mariam Farag
