Iran hesitates to enforce headscarf rules amid war, economic pressures
Women sit at outdoor cafes without headscarves and wearing crop tops. Men in shorts and women in leggings exercise together in parks. At sidewalk concerts, women stop to dance and literally let their hair down. The scenes from the Iranian capital of Tehran, shared in social media videos, point to how dramatically enforcement of social restrictions has eased in the Islamic Republic in recent years. That's in part because of the mass protests that erupted after the Sept. 16, 2022, death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly. Security forces crushed the protests with a crackdown that killed more than 500 people, and thousands were arrested. But to keep the peace, authorities backed off on enforcement of the rules mandating the hijab, or headscarf, and modest dress for women. The question now is whether that can be reversed. Hard-liners in Iran’s ruling establishment increasingly demand a clampdown on women’s dressing habits. But top leaders caution against triggering a public backlash at a time of war, wh
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