‘Super-revolutionaries’ challenge Khamenei over hijab

Frustrated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s silence, vigilantes have become more assertive in their demand for a new restrictive hijab law to be implemented.

Enforcing the legislation, which imposes harsh penalties—including heavy fines and prison sentences—on women who violate strict hijab rules and on businesses that fail to comply, could be highly provocative in the current climate and risk sparking anti-government protests.

In an unprecedented move, lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of the ultra-hardline Paydari Party, attempted to distance himself from those he labeled as “radicals” following recent protests outside the Parliament by hardliner vigilantes.

Nabavian accused these radicals of deepening societal divisions and provoking those who oppose mandatory hijab. “Calling for nationwide protests over [the imposition of hijab] aligns with the enemy’s plans to incite unrest in the country,” he wrote. More significantly, he suggested that these radicals are using social media to directly draw Khamenei into the issue.

Khamenei has conspicuously avoided addressing the hijab issue in his speeches in recent months, including during his December 17 address to an all-female audience.

However, in April 2023, he had taken a firm stance, declaring that disregarding hijab was “religiously and politically haram (forbidden).” In the same speech, he accused foreign intelligence agencies of encouraging Iranian women to defy the mandatory hijab.

During his speech on Saturday, he appeared to avoid responding to ultra-hardliner lawmaker Mohammad-Taghi Naghdali, who interrupted from the middle of the audience to question why the hijab law was not being enforced.

As Naghdali attempted to move closer to Khamenei, security guards swiftly removed him, while Khamenei said that he could not hear his remarks.

Currently, most expressions of frustration from vigilante groups toward Khamenei are veiled and circulated on domestic social media platforms such as Eitaa, a popular forum among ultra-hardliners and their associates.

Earlier this week, a small group of female vigilantes staged a rally in the religious city of Qom outside the office of Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, a prominent grand ayatollah recently praised by Khamenei for his scholarly contributions to seminaries.

The rally’s speaker criticized grand ayatollahs for their silence regarding the delayed enforcement of the hijab law. Such direct criticism of senior clerics, particularly those aligned with state ideology, is rare and highly frowned upon.

A widely circulated social media post anonymously criticizing Khamenei for the Supreme National Security Council’s (SNSC) decision in September to shelve the controversial new hijab law has sparked controversy.

Some of Khamenei’s own loyalists have shared the post, interpreting it as an act of disrespect toward the Supreme Leader.

Although the SNSC is chaired by the president, its decisions require Khamenei’s endorsement to be implemented.

Vigilante groups, often referred to as “super-revolutionaries” by rival hardliners, maintain strong ties with the ultra-hardline Paydari (Steadfastness) Party.

This faction played a key role in drafting the controversial hijab law and supports former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, their preferred candidate in the June snap elections.

Despite their professed allegiance to Khamenei, ultra-hardliners strongly back Mohammad-Mehdi Mirbagheri, a mid-ranking cleric known for his extreme religious and political views, particularly on the hijab issue. 

Small groups of vigilantes have staged protests after Friday prayers several times in recent months. A dozen women held a sit-in outside the Parliament, erecting makeshift shelters to demand the hijab law’s implementation.

Their protests intensified this week as hundreds were bused in from other cities to join the demonstrations outside Parliament. Unlike other political protests, security forces did not attempt to disperse the roughly 1,500 protesters gathered on Tuesday.

The growing assertiveness of vigilante groups has raised concerns even among conservatives.

Criticizing the “super-revolutionary Paydari associates” for their rigid stance on the hijab law, the conservative Tabnak news website warned on Wednesday that they “are striving to create new challenges for the administration and, perhaps, from an analytical and in-depth perspective, exert pressure on the governance.” In Iranian political discourse, the term “governance” is often used to indirectly refer to Khamenei and the policies he dictates to top officials.