Iran International
Iran's vice-president announced that the administration is drafting a bill to amend the highly controversial hijab law, which the Parliament Speaker had promised would take effect on December 13.
“We will send an amendment bill to the Parliament to halt [the controversies over its implementation] now to conduct further investigations,” Deputy President in Parliamentary Affairs, Shahram Dabiri, announced Saturday.
Reformist media and politicians have extensively criticized the new hijab law, spearheaded by lawmakers of the Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and their allies in the parliament, notably the Jebhe-ye Sobh-e Iran (MASAF) that was established less than a year ago. Ultra-hardliners of the Parliament have the backing of the Constitutional Guardian Council whose approval is required for all legislation.
Both groups have close ties to the ultra-hardliner former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili who lost the recent presidential elections to Pezeshkian and a shadowy cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Mehdi Mirbagheri with an extremely radical interpretation of the Sharia.
More reformist clerics have criticized the law. “This law’s implementation is fraught with political and economic problems and [will result in] stirring up hate and aversion to religion … making it official means neglecting the country’s [serious] political, social, and cultural problems,” Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Ayazi, a member of the reformist association of Qom Seminary clerics told the moderate conservative Khabar Online Saturday.
Ayazi also argued that ultra-hardliners’ insistence on immediate enforcement of tough hijab enforcement measures is meant to sabotage the Pezeshkian government’s efforts to remedy the more urgent problems it is grappling with. Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Masoudi Khomeini, another member of the same association, has expressed a similar view.
Despite agreeing with the hijab as a religious principle, several top-ranking clerics, including Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, have criticized ultra-hardliners’ insistence on implementing the new law in loosely veiled terms.
“This law suggests that they [the government] want to lead people to paradise by force,” conservative cleric Mohsen Gharavian who has been an outspoken critic of the new hijab law told Khabar Online. “Maybe we don’t want to go to paradise. What should we do [if we don’t]?” he added.
On Saturday, the relatively independent Rouydad24 news website wrote: “It appears that [the delay resulted from] the administration’s negotiations [with higher entities] to postpone the implementation of the Act and make some amendments to it have been successful."
Rouydad24 added that authorities at the highest level may have agreed that the controversial legislation formulated by ultra-hardliners cannot be enforced in the current circumstances.
"I have been entrusted with the project of determining Iran's position in the global order," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's supreme national security council from 2013 to 2023, said in an interview with Nour News.
The Iranian outlet cited him as adding that he is the official ultimately responsible for the country's nuclear diplomacy dossier and sanctions.
The assertions appeared aimed at reviving the relevance of a figure whose hardline stance on engagement with outside powers has been criticized by relative moderates as Iran's geopolitical influence wanes and economy suffers.
Shamkhani defended legislation he is widely believed to have crafted in December 2020 to boost Iranian uranium enrichment up to 20% which was blamed for harming chances for reviving a lapsed nuclear deal just as relative dove Joe Biden took office.
"The Strategic Action Plan is not a bad law; it was proposed in response to Trump's pressures, and our nuclear achievements are owed to this law," Shamkhani said.
His remarks come as Iran faces a dilemma over whether to double down on a muscular military policy in the region which has taken a severe pounding from Israel or to re-engage the West its disputed nuclear as Donald Trump's return looms.
The influential former military figure has been under intense scrutiny lately over his family's sprawling business interests.
Shamkhani's interview seems to have backfired as critics linked to the Reform camp and the government of former President Hassan Rouhani have again criticized him as a cause of Iran's woes who has been enriched by dodging sanctions which plague the livelihoods of ordinary Iranians.
His comments appear to be a deliberate doubling down on hawkish policies despite mounting domestic and international woes.
“Hardline and aggressive agents chosen by #Trump, if they learned from the past, will have no choice but to opt for rationality and respect in the face of Iranians' strong will to continue #Resistance,” Shamkhani said in a post on X last month.
Shamkhani, formerly a rear admiral in the IRGC, has in recent years become widely known for his and his sons' roles as emerging oil tycoons. They have been implicated in circumventing US sanctions and selling the Islamic Republic's oil through the use of ghost fleets. The allegation of oil dealings became a widely publicized affair in international media in 2024.
Shamkhani’s reputation as a corrupt insider extends beyond his alleged involvement in dubious oil dealings. After the collapse of a high-rise building in Abadan in 2022, which resulted in the loss of dozens of lives, accusations emerged linking Shamkhani and his associates to financial corruption and the exploitation of his influence as a rear admiral. While Shamkhani denied the corruption allegations, Iranian media remained skeptical, citing substantial evidence that cast doubt on his claims of innocence.
Yet another damning controversy surrounding Shamkhani was the execution of one of his former aides Alireza Akbari for espionage. That also did not affect his influence within Tehran’s power structures. The political system dominated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also turned a blind eye to Shamkhani's financial link to an IRGC-backed drug lord.
In the interview, Shamkhani criticized former presidents and claimed he had never voted for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hassan Rouhani, or Ebrahim Raisi. However, critics accused him of complicity in nearly every major decision made in Iran over the past 45 years, including significant financial scandals, while attempting to shift blame onto others.
Mohammad Heydari, managing editor of the Rouydad 24 News website in Tehran, noted that Shamkhani was an integral part of the administrations led by the very presidents he claims not to have voted for. As such, he bears responsibility for their actions and decisions.
Former Reformist MP Mahmoud Sadeghi in a video posted on X accused Shamkhani of being responsible for opening fire at protesters in major demonstrations since 2018. "We never forget and never forgive that."
In another post on X, Iranian political analyst Rouhollah Rahimpour argued that since Shamkhani claims to oversee Iran's nuclear dossier, he should be held accountable for the failures of past nuclear negotiations and possibly those in the future.
Bahram Parsaei, a member of the parliament from Shiraz wrote that Shamkhani has played a major part in the failure of the Rouhani administration and in the inclusion of Iran in the FATF blacklist, which significantly restricts Iran’s international banking and trade.
Although Shamkhani may have chosen to take part in that interview was to overshadow the controversy about his oil empire linked to his family, the decision could signal renewed political ambitions.
Shamkhani has made it clear more than once that he wishes to rise to the post of the security chief again, although Khamenei has so far demurred. Former President Hassan Rouhani has said that Khamenei was against Shamkhani's appointment as security chief in his government.
