Iran Snap Analysis: Resistance and National Students' Day

No doubt about the biggest and most surprising news concerning Iran on Monday. 

In Geneva, the reports from the first day of talks on Tehran's nuclear programme were formulaic statements that the discussions would continue into a Day 2.

But in Iran's capital, the developments were far from scripted: on the eve of National Students Day, hundreds of those students turned out at Tehran University to shout defiance. For the first time in many weeks, mass chants of "Ya Hossein Mir Hossein", "Free the Political Prisoners", and even "Marg Bar Dictator" (Death to the Dictator) were heard.

And not only heard but captured on film and sent to an international audience. Despite the regime's suffocating restrictions on communications, the footage made it out on Monday afternoon. 

So already I am having to revise my Monday assessment that the protests for 16 Azar will mainly be through written statements. Visible demonstrations may occur.

Any show of resistance is likely to be scattered, "flash mob" protests. And do not underestimate the efforts of the Government and security forces to quell even these limited displays: other footage smuggled out on Monday showed security cameras installed in a lunchroom at Deghlul University.

Still, it would be resistance that counters the narrative of a Government which is now secure after 18 months of post-election conflict. And then the question is how much that resistance brings other "fire from under the ashes".