Iran Nationwide Uprising – No. 66
From Justice-Seeking Mothers’ Cries to Strikes in Schools and Universities
In the final days of Bahman 1404 (mid-February 2026), coinciding with the 40th day memorial of the martyrs of the nationwide uprising in Dey (January), various cities across the country witnessed a renewal of pledges to the martyrs of the path to freedom. Courageous people and rebellious youths in Mashhad, Isfahan, Najafabad, Karaj, Shiraz, Hashtgerd, Shahreza, Borazjan, Qir-o Karzin, Hamedan, and cities in Mazandaran gathered at the martyrs’ graves, chanting slogans such as “Death to Khamenei,” “This fallen flower is a gift to the homeland,” and “We swear by the blood of our comrades, we will stand until the end.”
The commemoration ceremonies for these martyrs were accompanied by moving scenes of their families’ steadfastness. At the 40th-day ceremony for Yousef Bakhshi in Chalous, his mother courageously declared, “My head is held high, and I wear the crown of humanity; my son neither embezzled public funds nor oppressed anyone; he was killed on the path of a proud homeland.” In Gorgan, the mother of the martyr Nahayat Rahimi broke the silence by crying out, “The call of Karbala is here and now,” challenging the regime’s narratives by stating that her daughter was neither a bystander nor a Basij member, but a fighter martyred for her country. In Shahreza, friends of the martyr Taha Naderi, dressed in sportswear, honored his memory by playing the anthem “From the blood of the youth of the homeland, tulips have sprung.” In Shiraz, the family of the martyr Saeed Tavakolian carried the message of resistance to the streets by distributing flowers to the people.
The country’s universities were also hubs of unrest and protest. Students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, the University of Tehran, Birjand University of Technology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, and the Iran University of Science and Technology kept the memory of their classmates alive despite heavy judicial sentences and security threats. Slogans such as “For every person killed, a thousand rise behind them” and “Students are awake, they loathe the killer” echoed through university campuses. Meanwhile, students and teachers in Sanandaj, Saqqez, Kerman, Eshtehard in Karaj, and other cities demonstrated their solidarity with the uprising by boycotting classes and staging nationwide strikes.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
February 21, 2026