Statements circulated by students at the University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology and Isfahan University of Technology announced the creation of Lion and Sun associations, calling for secular governance, territorial integrity and free elections, and voicing support for exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi as a transitional figure.
At the University of Tehran, a founding statement said students were acting “in solidarity with the people of Iran” and in memory of those killed in recent protests, including four students from the university.
Similar statements were reported at Allameh Tabatabaei University, Iran University of Science and Technology and a branch of Islamic Azad University in Sari.
Videos shared by activists showed students raising the Lion and Sun flag on some campuses and chanting “Javid Shah” (Long live the Shah), alongside slogans such as “Death to the dictator,” “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran.”
Some students also referenced the former names of their institutions before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
At Al-Zahra University, protesters chanted that the university should revert to its pre-revolution name, Farah Pahlavi University. A day earlier at Sharif University of Technology, students echoed calls to restore its former name, Aryamehr – a title used by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during the pre-1979 monarchy.
In several instances, protesters burned the flag of the Islamic Republic.
Pro-government Basij-affiliated students held counter-gatherings on some campuses, where they burned US and Israeli flags and chanted slogans including “Death to the Shah,” a phrase closely associated with the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.
Threats of legal action and dormitory searches
University authorities and security forces signaled a tougher response as demonstrations spread.
The president of Sharif University of Technology, Masoud Tajrishi, warned students that the gatherings were “illegal” and said judicial authorities could intervene.
“The prosecutor has said this is not only a university matter and that we must step in,” he said, adding that some students had already been barred from entering campus and that the university could shift to fully virtual classes if unrest continued.
At Beheshti University in Tehran, security forces reportedly searched dormitory rooms late on Sunday in an effort to identify and detain protesting students.
Some students said they had received text messages informing them that disciplinary cases had been opened and that they were temporarily suspended pending committee decisions.
In Mashhad, students at local universities said participants in rallies had been threatened with expulsion.
At Amirkabir University, videos showed clashes between protesters and Basij members, with students accusing them of attempting to disrupt what they described as peaceful gatherings.
Habib Arian, a financial markets researcher, told ISNA that the turning point came on January 10, when the market recorded a one-day outflow of 9.4 trillion rials ($5.8 million), at the time the largest daily withdrawal of individual investor funds.
“That figure showed that trust, which is the main asset of the capital market, had been severely damaged,” Arian said. “From that date onward, the Tehran bourse was unable to return to an upward trajectory, and any positive fluctuation was treated as an opportunity to exit.”
Outflows accelerated as regional tensions intensified and speculation grew about possible confrontation between Iran and the United States. Investors shifted from equities toward hard assets, pushing the dollar above 1,650,000 rials and lifting domestic gold prices sharply.
Between January 8 and February 21, the benchmark index fell 15% while 18-karat gold posted a 33% gain over the same period. Gold-backed funds rose 20%, emerging as a primary destination for funds exiting equities.
“The 48-percentage-point gap between gold and stocks explains why liquidity has fled the equity market at this speed,” Arian said.
On Sunday alone, the main index shed another 103,000 points as retail investors pulled out a record 41 trillion rials ($25.3 million) in a single session, according to market data cited by Arian.
He said the stock market was now driven less by economic fundamentals than by political risk. “The market today is more hostage to political tensions and the shadow of war than to economic variables,” he said. “As long as geopolitical risks do not subside, the capital market will continue to act as a liquidity provider for parallel markets.”
The exodus from stocks comes against a backdrop of broader capital flight and currency weakness.
The rial has traded around 1,630,000 per dollar in recent weeks, reflecting deep structural imbalances, falling oil income and persistent uncertainty surrounding nuclear negotiations and sanctions.
Analysts say the combination of record outflows from equities, a weakening currency and rising demand for gold shows the erosion of investor confidence, with households and businesses seeking safety in assets perceived as more resilient to inflation and political shocks.
“In this environment, investors prefer the security of gold and dollar-linked assets to the ambiguity of shares,” Arian said.