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Less than 48 hours after the politically charged removals of presidential deputy Mohammad-Javad Zarif and Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati, 209 members of the Iranian regime’s parliament signed a letter on March 4, 2025, urging Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to enforce the controversial mandatory hijab law immediately. The lawmakers explicitly referenced the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent statements, insisting that the law’s enforcement was crucial for maintaining ideological control and regime unity amid escalating internal tensions and public discontent.
The regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian opposed this demand. On March 7, his deputy, Mohammad-Jafar Qaem-Panah, announced publicly, “The President clearly emphasized that the hijab law cannot be enforced because it would create problems for the people.”
This position marked a sharp contradiction, as historically, Pezeshkian himself had been an aggressive advocate for compulsory hijab. In 2014, Pezeshkian proudly admitted: “Immediately after the revolution, even before hijab became official law, I personally enforced mandatory hijab in hospitals and universities, coordinating with revolutionary courts and initiating the Cultural Revolution.” His current stance thus appears motivated more by fear of public backlash than ideological transformation.
#Iran’s Hijab Law Becomes Battleground Amid Regime’s Desperation to Preserve Power https://t.co/jdwzS6jcVI
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 13, 2024
Pezeshkian’s refusal to enforce the law sparked outrage among influential clerics and regime officials. Senior cleric Ahmad Khatami fiercely criticized Pezeshkian, stating, “All officials must execute the law. Refusing to enforce hijab is anti-government and anti-God.” Similarly, Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in Mahshad, accused Pezeshkian of betraying the revolution, stating, “Does Pezeshkian think representatives demanding hijab enforcement are not ‘the people’? Refusing to enforce the hijab is disobedience to God.” These statements highlighted deep factional infighting within the regime.
Meanwhile, state-affiliated media revealed significant anxiety about enforcing the hijab law, underscoring the real concerns driving officials like Pezeshkian to oppose immediate implementation.
The daily Khorasan, affiliated with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, explicitly exposed these fears, stating: “Common sense dictates that, given the profound economic and social wounds, the time for enforcing the hijab law has not yet arrived. Multiple economic hardships have severely reduced people’s tolerance, and any further tension is like igniting a spark on a powder keg, potentially leading to unpredictable social outrage. Foreign enemies continuously target our social cohesion and exploit internal divisions.”
Such statements underscore that due to multiple political and socio-economic crises, the regime is deeply divided, caught between contradictory interests and priorities. Factions close to Khamenei fear that any compromise or concession toward societal demands or international pressure would embolden the regime’s adversaries and accelerate its downfall. Conversely, their opponents argue that strict enforcement and repression risk igniting widespread unrest with unpredictable consequences. Either path chosen presents grave risks, further illustrating the regime’s internal contradictions and inevitable fate.