Students protested in Tehran, Mashhad and Hamadan on 2 June, marching on the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution over changes to university entrance-exam policy1. The grievance is bread-and-butter rather than the war: how the state runs the exam that decides who reaches university. Anger at the conduct of daily life, not the conflict with Washington, put students on the street.
The march ran on a day of executions. The NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran) counts 37 political prisoners executed since 19 March, roughly one every other day2. The state hanged a prisoner at that pace while its students marched, a repression tempo the war has not slowed. Iran Human Rights Monitor ran its 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign across 56 prisons the same day.
The domestic front matters because it sits apart from the diplomatic thaw. While Araghchi reopened talks and the rial firmed, the security courts kept their wartime pace and students kept protesting over something the negotiations will never touch. The thaw at the table has not reached the cell block or the campus.
