Iran’s modesty police back down as women defy hijab laws

Authorities reportedly fear renewed enforcement could reignite the protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death.

By World Israel News Staff

Iran’s religious police have reportedly pulled back from enforcing the country’s strict Islamic dress laws, including the mandatory requirement that women cover their hair, amid fears that a renewed crackdown could trigger mass protests and threaten the stability of the regime.

According to a CNN report, Iranian authorities have largely refrained from confronting women who violate the country’s mandatory hijab rules, despite years of harsh enforcement.

The regime’s concerns are rooted in the massive protests that erupted in 2022 following the slaying of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while being detained by the morality police over alleged violations of Iran’s hijab laws.

Amini’s death sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, one of the most significant challenges to the Iranian regime in years.

More recently, economic protests that began in December 2025 over the rising cost of living have added another source of public frustration. Against that backdrop, Iranian authorities appear reluctant to take measures that could provide another catalyst for widespread demonstrations.

A woman in her 60s who lives in Tehran told CNN that morality police officers have largely stopped confronting women over their clothing.

The religious police “still don’t dare say anything to people on the street. Girls in Tehran are out and about wearing crop tops, shorts, and all kinds of clothes, and headscarves are practically no longer a thing,” she told the network.

“I don’t think they can make these girls wear headscarves again. But then again, that’s also what we thought when the revolution happened. We never thought they would be able to force us to wear them, but in the end, they did.”

The apparent retreat from directly confronting women does not mean that Iran has abandoned its Islamic dress laws. Instead, the regime is reportedly enforcing the rules through other means, including targeting businesses that fail to uphold them.

According to CNN, dozens of cafes have been shut down in recent weeks for allegedly violating Islamic norms. Authorities have reportedly targeted establishments where unrelated men and women mingle or where female customers are permitted to remain without wearing a hijab.