Iran International
Many Iranians fear that a diplomatic opening with the United States could come at the cost of renewed social restrictions at home, as reports of stricter hijab enforcement begin circulating following the recent war.
Over recent days, social media users have voiced concern that a period of relative tolerance toward personal freedoms may be coming to an end.
With the immediate external crisis easing and further negotiations with Washington expected, many fear authorities could once again shift their focus to domestic social controls.
There has been no official announcement confirming the return of the morality police. But reports circulating online suggest increased scrutiny of hijab compliance in several cities, particularly the religious centers of Qom and Mashhad, although many of the incidents remain difficult to independently verify.
One widely shared video, which users say was filmed in the holy city of Qom, appears to show male and female officers attempting to persuade a young woman to enter a white van resembling those previously used by the so-called morality police.
In a separate video reportedly filmed in Mashhad, a police officer is seen confronting a young woman riding as a passenger on a motorcycle, telling her to buy a headscarf from a nearby shop before continuing her journey.
Another video from Tehran shows an argument between a young woman and several men. One tells her she has no right to appear without a head covering because it is against the law, while others threaten to call the police.
Optional, or is it?
Social media users have also reported visits by the Public Venues Supervision Office, the police body responsible for monitoring businesses, to inspect compliance with hijab regulations in companies, cafés and restaurants.
"They say hijab has become optional," one user wrote. "It's true that the way we dress has completely changed, both in the street and at work. But during these days of negotiations officials came to inspect our workplace over hijab.
"Imagine the anxiety in a company where most employees are women without hijab, fearing the business could be sealed because of them."
The legal rights group Dadban said reports from different parts of Iran suggested security, law enforcement and judicial institutions had once again increased their focus on domestic social control.
"Measures taken in recent weeks, from intensified street enforcement to growing pressure on citizens, point to the return of this approach," the group said.
"It appears that, following the reduction of external tensions, the responsible institutions have once again prioritized internal control and restricting individual and social freedoms."
Wartime tolerance, post-war uncertainty
During the war, state media and some officials openly welcomed the participation of unveiled women in pro-government gatherings. Images of women without head coverings were broadcast on state television, breaking with longstanding editorial practice.
At one gathering, organizers even projected a performance by a Lebanese female singer onto a large screen, challenging the state's longstanding ban on solo female singing.
Those departures from established norms unsettled many hardline supporters of the Islamic Republic. Now, with a memorandum signed with the United States and the prospect of further negotiations ahead, some Iranians fear authorities could seek to reassure conservative constituencies by tightening social controls once again.
Others worry that radical groups could feel emboldened to intervene directly under the principle of "enjoining good and forbidding wrong," a religious doctrine frequently invoked to justify policing perceived moral violations.
"After an agreement, what can their street forces do?" one social media user wrote. "Will they once again be unleashed on the public over hijab and other issues? A confrontation between society and the state lies ahead."
Another predicted authorities would intensify hijab enforcement and close cafés to appease conservatives opposed to rapprochement with Washington.
Political scientist Morteza Nemati urged caution over reports of the morality police's return but highlighted what he saw as an irony.
"I don't know how accurate the reports about relaunching the morality police are," he wrote on X. "But if you do bring them back, please be careful not to accidentally arrest the same unveiled women whose images you were showing at the nighttime rallies."
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.