FRESH protests erupted in Iran today, with university students demonstrating around the memorials for the thousands killed in crackdowns at the beginning of the year.

Iran’s state news agency said students protested at five universities in the capital, Tehran, and one in the city of Mashhad. The scattered protests erupted on Saturday at universities following 40-day memorials for people killed in January during anti-government rallies.

The protests come amid escalating tensions between Iran’s theocratic regime and the US. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week’s talks showed “good progress,” but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has continued to issue bellicose statements threatening decisive retaliation against US targets across the Middle East, raising the prospect of a wider war. 

US President Donald Trump has also threatened to strike Iran within the fortnight, describing regime change in Iran as “the best thing that could happen” in recent weeks.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian hit back while at a ceremony for Iran’s Paralympians over the weekend.

“World powers are lining up with cowardice to force us to bow our heads. Just as you did not bow down in the face of difficulties, we will not bow down in the face of these problems,” he said.

A statement from the Tudeh Party of Iran late today warned: “We are witnessing the largest US military build-up in the Middle East since the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.”

Mr Araghchi said on Friday he expected a draft “counter‑proposal” from the Geneva talks to be ready within two to three days, pending approval by the regime’s leadership.

And reports inside Iran indicate that a proposal to the US — including commercial contracts — is being prepared.

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Friday that co-operation with the US in the oil and gas sectors, and purchase of aircraft, could be possible under a nuclear agreement. 

But the Tudeh party said that “neither side has retreated from its maximalist positions and the talks thus far have not progressed beyond generalities.”

The statement added: “These developments underscore the urgent necessity of launching an effective campaign against war with Iran. Such a campaign is as vital and immediate today as it was 23 years ago, on the eve of the criminal invasion of Iraq by the major powers led by the United States and the subsequent occupation of that country.”