Iran’s Legions of Weary Young People Push Against the Old Ways

Iranian religious authorities worry that a nuclear deal 
could open the country's doors and expose its youth to 
Western cultural influences. Photo: Bill Spindle/WSJ

Hard-liners face large population of rambunctious youth tired of decades of religious edicts and isolation

During a spirited concert by the band Rastak, the Islamic Republic’s hard-line religious conservatives faced a challenge that is increasingly common in Iran: three young women cheering too enthusiastically.

Widespread dissatisfaction with Iran's hard-liners erupted 
in protests after the 2009 presidential election

As the friends, dressed in colorful head scarves, erupted in screams and applause, a stern woman in black emerged from the side of the auditorium here, pointing a finger and threatening to eject them. When they continued, another official snapped their pictures.

They didn’t seem intimidated at all. “Are you sure you don’t want to leave?” one of them shouted over the music with a smile to the security personnel. The women kept on cheering but were watched closely for the rest of the concert.

The confrontation shows how hard-liners who have dominated Iran for a decade are bumping up against another force: Iran’s rambunctious youth, most born long after the 1979 revolution. More than half of Iran’s 75 million people are under 35 years old. Many are weary of overweening religious edicts, economic mismanagement and isolation brought by a decade of international sanctions.

These younger Iranians aren’t trying to overthrow the regime, which remains locked in nuclear talks with six major world powers. Another deadline came and went Tuesday, but European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said negotiations would continue “for the next couple of days.” Can’t stop a ‘tsunami’

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For now at least, post-revolutionary Iranians seem largely apolitical, want to be free from the endless ideological fights that have racked the country since the revolution and are content with leaders who are conservative but not hard-edge ideologues, like Iranian President Hasan Rouhani.

“This is a tidal wave of young people looking for a better life,” says Reza Soltanzadeh, 43 years old, the manager of an investment fund in Tehran. “You can’t put a dam in front of a tsunami.”

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