Supreme Leader Ordered Brutal Hijab Crackdown, Police Chief Reveals

The latest brutal crackdown enforcing hijab comes on the direct orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran’s police chief has revealed.

Abbas Ali Mohammadian hailed the repressive measures – dubbed the "Nour [light] Initiative" - as "successful" amid increasing reports of violence committed by morality police agents against women in Iran's cities.

"After the Supreme Leader's directive, the police put this project on their agenda," Mohammadian said on Wednesday.

During a meeting with other police staff, he suggested they have "more patience" and work harder to accomplish their mission "better" without providing details on what that means.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly stated that ignoring the hijab is a red line that should not be crossed.

In his speech in early April, he described hijab defiance as "an imposed challenge". He said "the enemies" aimed to revert women's status to pre-Islamic Revolution times when their behavior, attitude, and presence were considered unacceptable.

"The issue of hijab has become a challenge and imposed on our country. They imposed this," he stated.

"Today, they are focused on the issue of removing women's hijab, but this is the first step; it is not the last step. This is not their goal. The enemy's goal is to return the country to the state of pre-revolution when scandalous conditions prevailed," he added.

Morality police have been back on the streets since April 13, when the new hijab restrictions took effect. The extortion and abuse of Iranian women at the hands of hijab enforcement officers have caused even some regime supporters and hardliners to criticize the act or, at times, try to absolve Khamenei of responsibility.

Within a week of the new restrictions being enacted, deputy chief of the Office for the Preservation and Publication of the Works of the Leader of the Revolution, Mehdi Fazaeli, stated that the leader had cautioned some officials to refrain from taking any "irregular and spontaneous" actions regarding the hijab.

Mohammad Safari Malekian, a member of Iran’s parliament, was quoted on state news as saying: “Unfortunately, the country has suffered enormous costs due to the ill-considered enforcement of hijab. Distasteful behavior and an excessive amount of pressure on the issue of hijab will not achieve any results.”

Iran International has been informed of severe violence, including brutal physical assault and sexual verbal abuse suffered by many women arrested by the morality police during the latest crackdown.

Social media has been flooded with videos of Iranian hijab patrol agents forcibly arresting women for not complying with mandatory hijab. On Wednesday, a video surfaced that showed a woman being locked up in a police van as the crackdowns continued.

After the protests following Mahsa Amini's death in the custody of the morality police in 2022, enforcing mandatory hijab became more lax, but there are once again patrols of police, morality vans, and police motorcycle patrols in different Iranian districts.

Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died from multiple head injuries, triggering the fiercest uprising against the regime since its founding.