Iran security council move shines faint light on post-Khamenei future

Rasekhoon, a youth-focused online outlet promoting Islamic values, seethed about the trend in a column last week as an inversion of the hijab's purported main purpose: modesty.

"(The bloggers) appear to observe the basic requirements of Islamic hijab, yet simultaneously seek attention and align themselves with global beauty standards," read an editorial on the outlet.

"They do so with bright colors, modern cuts, heavy makeup and a wide array of accessories.”

The publication argued that this emphasis on attractiveness erodes the spiritual purpose of the hijab and encourages visibility over modesty.

Internet-friendly modeling, it added, undermines the spiritual purpose of the hijab with its emphasis on attractiveness and drawing attention and visibility.

“Hijab-style influencers are the front-line soldiers of the cultural war, pushing religious and spiritual practices toward decadence,” Razieh Jabbari, a hijab activist, told the Revolutionary Guards-linked Tasnim News Agency last week.

“Behind these individuals stand think tanks seeking to alter religious lifestyles and appearances, trivialize our cultural and spiritual values, and promote a version of ‘American-approved Islam’,” she said.

Historically, the Islamic Republic has promoted the chador—a long black veil covering the entire body—as the ideal dress code for women.

Not popular

While officials often claim widespread support for Islamic veiling, only a minority, perhaps around 15 percent, wear the chador consistently.

According to a 2022 survey by independent research group GAMAAN, over 70 percent of men and women opposed mandatory hijab laws.

“The professionalized style promoted by hijab bloggers has even managed to influence the tastes of part of the population who is religious and believes in hijab, encouraging them to replace the traditional chador with long, modest manteaus,” the Jam-e Jam newspaper wrote.

This year, during the Arbaeen Walk to the shrines of Shia Imams in Iraq, hijab-style bloggers produced a flood of content. According to critics, “Their aim is to reduce grand ceremonies from a ‘spiritual and revolutionary event’ to a mere ‘spectacle—shallow and superficial,” Jabbari told Tasnim.

In Iran, the hijab functions not only as a religious observance but also as a political symbol tied to the state’s identity. Since 1979, the legally required hijab has been presented as a marker of revolutionary authenticity and resistance to Western influence.

For hardliners, enforcing the hijab validates the Islamic system, while opposition is framed as a challenge to state authority.

Women’s clothing has thus become a recurring political battleground, where debates over morality, freedom and national sovereignty converge.

Since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, Iranian women have persistently defied the state's compulsory hijab laws, transforming personal acts of resistance into a powerful political statements.

In Tehran and other urban centers, going unveiled has become more common, although most women still carry scarves for public offices, banks or transport to avoid confrontation. Few dress entirely as they wish; most compromise with long sleeves and modest skirts while avoiding sleeveless tops, shorts or short skirts.

In May, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council shelved a new hardline bill mandating stricter hijab rules, likely to avoid a public backlash.

While enforcement has not disappeared, but reports of women facing harassment, including fines and impounding of their vehicles, are not as common as before.

While those opposed to Tehran’s rule largely see in snapback a chance for collapse or regime change, hardliners dismiss the sanctions as psychological warfare and call for retaliation and escalation.

“If snapback is extended, what guarantee is there that six months later we won’t face demands over missiles?” an ultraconservative activist asked online. “Withdraw from the NPT, expel European ambassadors, block the Strait of Hormuz.”

Some went further still. “What rational reason is left not to build a nuclear bomb?” one user asked on X. Another warned: “From now on, any official who stands against developing nuclear weapons will not be remembered kindly in Iran’s history.”

Hardliners rallied under the hashtag “JCPOA is pure damage,” referring to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Many dismissed renewed UN sanctions as empty threats. “The uproar over snapback is merely psychological warfare,” one user insisted.

Defending the deal

Others countered that the nuclear accord shielded Iran from Chapter VII sanctions and the threat of war for a decade and should not be discarded.

Journalist Hossein Yazdi recalled the grim days before the deal: “Ask those who remember how dire things were before the JCPOA. Was it not true that people in Khuzestan traded rice for Iraqi infant formula?”

Writer Mohammadreza Mohajer drew a parallel with Iraq before the 2003 invasion.

“It hardly matters whether we have 400 kilos of enriched uranium or 40 million tons—just as it didn’t matter whether Saddam had weapons of mass destruction,” he posted on X.

“Let’s not forget: we did not want Iran for enrichment; we wanted enrichment for Iran.”

‘Blessing in Disguise’

Some voices on the other extreme framed snapback as less a source of despair than a potential opening.

“Iranians are drowning anyway … But perhaps snapback will bring war, and with it a chance to break the chains,” one activist wrote. “Yes, we, the people of Iran, welcome snapback.”

Another argued that sanctions would finally “prove to the grey middle class that hoping for Khamenei to make concessions was always an illusion” and push them toward revolt.

Humor and anxiety

Not all reactions were grim. “How long does snapback take to kick in? It’s been a day since activation, and I don’t feel anything yet,” one user joked.

But humor quickly drew pushback. “Snapback is no laughing matter. It is about people’s daily bread, our children’s future, our very lives. How can anyone joke about this?” journalist Hoda Hashemi wrote.

Others highlighted the human cost more directly.

“The activation of snapback saddens me, because I know the burden will fall directly on the people … who had no role in creating this catastrophe,” diaspora activist Amin Pouria posted.

“But I would still mourn had it not been activated, because that would mean the Islamic Republic and Khamenei could once again breathe easy. Either way, the people suffer. Damn you for holding an entire nation hostage!”

The program began with classifying migrants into legal and illegal groups to provide services to the former and facilitate the return of the latter, Nader Yarahmadi, Head of the Interior Ministry’s Center for Foreign Nationals and Migrants.

“From the total 1,833,636 undocumented migrants who left, 1.2 million departures occurred this year alone,” Yarahmadi said.

“More than 70 percent of these undocumented migrants went back home with their families,” he said.

Yarahmadi added that the expulsions are not over. “At least 800,000 more people must be removed as undocumented migrants, which is on the agenda in the next phases,” he said.

Crackdown after ceasefire with Israel

Iran launched a sweeping crackdown on Afghan migrants in the wake of a ceasefire with Israel, targeting them for deportation and alleged security threats.

Taliban authorities have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in western Afghanistan due to the rapid influx.

Over the decades, Afghan migrants have been treated as expendable tools in Tehran’s shifting policies in the region. They were recruited to fight in Syria as part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, exploited as cheap undocumented labor inside Iran, and periodically threatened with mass expulsion in bouts of official populism. During moments of domestic discontent, Afghan migrants became convenient targets to deflect public anger.

Following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, a massive influx of Afghan refugees entered Iran and as many as two million Afghans crossed the border within two years.

Rather than developing a comprehensive migration policy, authorities allowed border regions to turn into chaotic transit points run by smugglers and corrupt officials.

Officials insist the expulsions will continue until the number of foreign residents matches what they describe as the country’s designed capacity.

Iran's new Security Chief, Ali Larijani, seemed to misread the immediacy of the threat in an interview days before the diplomatic setback.

In an interview with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's official website on August 22, Larijani insisted that China and Russia could shield Iran against the snapback threat.

"This issue is currently under review domestically, and as far as I know, some countries are making efforts to negotiate in order to prevent it from happening. Russia and China also hold a different position. They're acting as obstacles."

Larijani is a seasoned politician, but less savvy figures, including state-appointed Friday prayer leaders, also contributed to the confusion with their remarks.

In Shiraz, Friday Prayers imam Lotfollah Dejkam offered a revisionist take on world history, saying: "Europeans have been defeated by Iran several times, and they are likely to experience an even bigger defeat as a result of the snapback."

Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayers Imam of Mashhad, appeared to downplay the seriousness of the likely economic pain due to be wrought by sanctions.

Iranians, he said, who rushed to capital markets to buy gold and foreign currency in anticipation of further devaluation of the Iranian rial were "simpletons."

Many commentators questioned the leadership's broader understanding of the nuclear deal and the international frameworks governing it.

Among the critics was Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, former head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, who condemned fellow politicians for their impulsive reactions.

In a post on X, he specifically addressed members of parliament who had tabled a triple-urgency motion calling on the Islamic Republic to exit the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ironically, despite attaching the highest urgency label to the bill, lawmakers postponed its discussion until Saturday, as Friday is a public holiday in Iran.

"Exiting NPT, closing Strait of Hormuz and producing an atomic bomb! For years, the nation has been paying the price for the nonsense you still repeat on (state TV)," Falahatpisheh wrote.

"You believed your own nonsense, which has prevented any rationality and initiative to get out of the deadlocks," he added.

Meanwhile, the promise of diplomatic roads not taken was examined anew.

In an interview with the Entekhab website, Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff to former President Hassan Rouhani, revealed that during Rouhani's final days in office, he had asked his successor, President Ebrahim Raisi, to allow him to broker a deal with the United States to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

According to Vaezi, Raisi insisted on reviving the agreement under his own administration. Rouhani argued that even if his government signed the deal, the revenue from oil sales would benefit the incoming government.

Nonetheless, Raisi rejected the proposal, and negotiations with the United States ran aground.

The prosecutor of Mashhad Hassan Hemmati Far said the story first appeared in a social media post by a truck driver in the city of Fasa and quickly spread. He said security, police and intelligence services investigated the report and found it to be baseless.

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB had earlier reported that Toosi was shot by unidentified gunmen in Mashhad and was hospitalized in critical condition. It gave no further details.

IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News also dismissed the reports as unconfirmed rumors, but said a competent authority should clarify the matter.

This came after Khorasan Daily reported that Toosi had been wounded and hospitalized. Earlier, his brother told the outlet there had been a physical attack.

Toosi gained national recognition after winning two international Qur’an recitation competitions and performing at events attended by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

However, in 2016, at least ten men came forward accusing him of sexual abuse during their teenage years, often while traveling with him for religious training or competitions. The allegations were first aired on Voice of America Persian, after judicial proceedings in the country stalled.

Despite an initial indictment, the case was later dismissed, prompting outrage from activists and victims who accused the judiciary of protecting a figure close to the establishment. Toosi denied all allegations, calling them “bogus and total lies.”