Enforce hijab or lose us, ultra-hardliners warn Iran’s leadership

Iran's ultra-hardliners and vigilantes associated with them are increasingly warning that the Islamic Republic risks alienating its staunchest supporters if authorities continue suspending strict hijab enforcement.

In a viral video circulating on social media last week, ultra-hardliner lawmaker Mohammad-Mannan Raisi blasted the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for its mid-September decision to halt the implementation of the proposed Hijab and Chastity Law.

The proposed law had been slammed globally for its draconian measures, the UN branding it "gender apartheid".

“The new hijab law marks an intensification of state control over women’s bodies in Iran and is a further assault on women’s rights and freedoms,” the UN said at the time.

Raisi argued that the clerical rule’s “solid core” supporters have endured severe economic hardship out of loyalty to the Islamic Republic, expecting it to uphold the Sharia law. However, by showing indifference to religious beliefs and values, he claimed, authorities are behaving like a secular government and eroding trust among their most devoted base.

“The solid core of the system will be disillusioned if you suspend God’s commandments and fail to implement them based on unjustified expediency,” Raisi warned, suggesting these loyalists could lose their motivation to defend those in power whom they hold responsible for enforcing the Sharia.

The decision of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) not to enforce the controversial law could not have been made without the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has avoided discussing the issue in his speeches for months despite his firm stance in April 2023, declaring that disregarding hijab was “religiously and politically haram (forbidden).”

Authorities appear to be treading carefully, as enforcing the controversial law—punishing violators, including businesses, with hefty fines and prison sentences—could spark fresh anti-government protests.

Defiance of hijab rules has significantly grown among Iranian women since the violently suppressed 2022-2023 protests that followed the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

The young woman was arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, leading to a tidal wave of opposition to the decades-long law.

Many women now refuse to wear the compulsory head covering, long tunics, and trousers as dictated by the country's Shariah law. They are also now often seen singing and dancing in public in defiance of the religious establishment.

The crackdowns, which led to more than 500 deaths of protesters at the hands of security forces during the initial uprising, and thousands more arrests, have seen Iran levied with global sanctions, which come in addition to sanctions for its nuclear program and support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sanctions have seen Iran land in its worst economic crisis since the founding of the Islamic Republic, at least one-third of the country now living below the poverty line, and Iran increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Raisi, who led hardliner Saeed Jalili’s campaign in Qom during June’s snap presidential election, is closely aligned with the ultra-conservative Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and its allies, including Jebhe-ye Sobh-e Iran (Iran Morning Front).

His remarks came just days after an unprecedented police crackdown on pro-hijab vigilantes who had camped outside the Iranian parliament for over 45 days. While no arrests were reported, religious vigilante groups claim police used excessive force—an unexpected turn for those who have long operated with impunity and, at times, direct security force backing.

Hossein Allahkaram, a spokesman for the pro-hijab protesters, condemned the police response and vowed that demonstrations would resume after the Iranian New Year holidays.

Vigilante groups have historically played a key role in suppressing opposition movements and even participated in high-profile attacks like the storming of the British embassy in 2011 and the Saudi embassy in 2016—both of which triggered diplomatic crises.

Raisi’s warning has ignited intense debate on social media, with critics, particularly supporters of Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, accusing him of issuing veiled threats against the authorities.

So far, most expressions of frustration from vigilante groups are directed at top officials. However, there are also some highly veiled complaints over Khamenei's silence, or approval, of the relative leniency shown in the hijab matter on domestic social media platforms such as Eitaa, a popular forum among ultra-hardliners and their associates.

Their waning influence has not gone unnoticed by those opposing their interference in national governance.

Former IRGC commander turned reformist figure, Ghorbanali Salavatian, wrote in an X post, “They constantly call themselves the ‘solid core’ of the system, as if the country would collapse without them and as if they alone have protected it".