I was in Tehran in May 2025 and was surprised

[vanessa_ca]

Link to tweet

[Jim__]

1. That's surprising to me. I always heard that they were very strict about women keeping their heads covered.

It doesn't look that way in the video.

[LeftInTX]

2. They are sporadic and unpredictable about it.

That's why it's so strict. Good one day and then they kill someone another day.

I'm pretty sure these videos come from an upscale area. Every time I see these videos, they are at a mall.

[LeftInTX]

3. It's not all paradise and puppies. I always see those videos at malls.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/11/iranian-women-post-images-without-hijab-despite-crackdown

But apparently, the govt was gonna crack down on the mall owners.


https://www.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1amd561/i_just_saw_this_new_video_from_iran_and_im/

The Islamic regime has always implemented a seemingly 'random' or chaotic criminal justice system vs a 'black and white' or clearly defined one, for multiple reasons.

Among them, when you leave it a bit nebulous, you force people to police and censor themselves. You don't need to arrest everyone who doesn't wear hijab, just a few random numbers here and there. The news gets out and the fear of retribution permeates society. This allows the Islamic regime to use less resources to accomplish the same task and it allows them to be efficient in their criminality. As a bonus, it also allows them to save face the odd time that a powerfully connected person gets in trouble with the law or does something that for others would normally mean harsh consequences.

Second, it poisons society and breeds resentment when people think they are being 'treated unfairly' because they were arrested for posting something on social media, for example, whereas others were not. Instead of being united, this unequal treatment makes people doubt who is and who isn't aligned with them or with the regime (thus protected or given more leeway). Why was this prisoner given a lower sentence? or allowed to be interviewed by CNN? etc.

Third, it acts as a pressure valve which allows for the calibration of force applied on society. Whenever there are protests and extreme backlash, the regime backs off or will even let things slide with a vague and mealy mouthed press release. For an example of this, see the removal of morality police and the claim that it was being dismantled - which many Western regime-allied journalists were all too happy to spread. See Fassihi's NYT article (this and many more demonstrate her to be a tool in the Islamic regime's toolbox):