Less than 10 months passed from the day when the activities of the Morality Police were halted following the death of Mahsa Amini until the officers enforcing compulsory hijab resumed their operations.
During that time, the government implemented various strategies to coerce women into observing the mandatory hijab, but the removal and eventual return of the white vans of the Morality Police became a symbol for measuring the government's severity in handling opponents of the hijab law.
Although the Morality Police disappeared from the streets almost immediately following the announcement of Mahsa Amini’s death, the official - albeit untrue - announcement of their removal came about two and a half months later, delivered by the Attorney General.
On December 3, 2022, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced in a speech that the Morality Police "was shut down from the same place it was established."
The announcement came around seventy days into the street protests and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. During that period, the government employed various methods - from repression and security measures to propaganda and promises of reform - in an attempt to quell the protests.
For many, however, the announcement of the Morality Police's removal was unconvincing. While some Western media interpreted it as a concession to the protesters, others remained sceptical. The atmosphere had become so tense that the mere presence of the Morality Police vans heightened sensitivities. In response, the police and other agencies paused the use of these vans, opting instead to close shops and businesses where women appeared without the mandatory hijab.
Despite these numerous efforts, none proved sufficient to prevent the eventual return of the Morality Police. Shortly after Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, declared that refusing to wear a headscarf was "haram," forbidden by Islamic law, police vans reappeared on the streets to confront women defying the compulsory hijab law.
Finally, on July 16, 2023, the police spokesperson officially announced the return of the Morality Police.
Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi stated that, from that day forward, both vehicle and foot patrols would deal with individuals who "persist in breaking societal norms."
Political analyst Ali Afshari, speaking to IranWire, said that the government had never truly intended to back down from enforcing the mandatory hijab. "From the very first days of the protests, they sought to calm the situation," Afshari said. "They reached out to Mahsa Amini's family in an attempt to reduce the tensions, but it didn’t work. Simultaneously, they refused to abolish the mandatory hijab or admit that Mahsa Amini was killed while in custody."
According to Afshari, after the protests subsided, the authorities sought to reassert control. "They filed cases against women who had removed their headscarves during the protests. Once the protests had calmed, they reintroduced the Morality Police under a new name - the 'Noor Project' - to enforce the same rules."
Although the Morality Police was briefly halted and later reinstated, the numerous strategies implemented by the government over the past two years to enforce the mandatory hijab have raised many questions about the rationale behind these efforts.
Before the Morality Police returned under the new name "Noor Project," another force known as the "hijab enforcers" began to appear in various parts of the Iranian capital, including metro stations. These individuals were not formally affiliated with any specific organization.
Authorities, including then-Minister of Interior Ahmad Vahidi and Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, claimed that the hijab enforcers were ordinary people enforcing the principle of "propagation of virtue and prevention of vice." However, questions arose about how these so-called "volunteers" were outfitted in uniforms, stationed in subway corridors, and filmed people, leading to suspicion of their independence.
Amid these debates, Etemad newspaper revealed a confidential letter from Ahmad Vahidi showing that all measures against women defying the hijab law were directly ordered by him. Vahidi, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), publicly denied imposing restrictive measures, yet leaks and media reports exposed his role in directing these actions behind the scenes.
Asieh Amini, a social analyst, told IranWire that the government's actions regarding the mandatory hijab can be divided into two categories: actions rooted in law and those operating outside the legal framework.
The first category includes laws and punishments passed through formal legislative processes. The second stems from fatwas and orders issued by religious authorities, primarily Ali Khamenei, and are enforced without needing legal justification.
The second measures are executed by loyalists who act on religious edicts as if they were law, bypassing the formal legal process.
The actions of the Iranian government and its supporters in enforcing the mandatory hijab, as social analyst Asieh Amini has identified, have become increasingly visible over the past two years. One prominent example is the hijab enforcement in metro stations, orchestrated under orders from the Minister of Interior and the Mayor of Tehran.
During this campaign, Armita Geravand, a teenage girl not wearing a hijab, was pushed backwards while boarding a metro train, leading to a coma from which she later died. While the government offered various explanations for her fall, a source told IranWire that a hijab enforcer pushed Armita because she was not wearing a headscarf.
The government's harsh measures to enforce the hijab law have led to both financial and human costs, prompting many to question why such costly programs persist. Political analyst Ali Afshari told IranWire that if the Islamic Republic were to relax its stance on the hijab, it would risk losing support from its core base.
"The issue is deeper than just the headscarf or chador," Afshari explained. "It extends to the broader concept of personal freedom, which fundamentally conflicts with the government's ideological framework.
"If the government abandons mandatory hijab, it risks losing its conservative supporters and undermining the very foundation of its legitimacy. With Ali Khamenei having declared hijab as both a political and religious obligation, abolishing it would render the doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih [Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist] meaningless."
To maintain control, the government has used various strategies. First, they have recruited economically vulnerable women, offering them salaries to enforce hijab regulations. Then, they reintroduced the Morality Police, albeit under a new name, showing little regard for the legalities of these actions.
From the Interior Minister, whose lies about the role of the hijab enforcers were exposed, to the officers seen on video beating and violently arresting Nafas Haji Sharif, a teenage girl without a headscarf, the government's desire to suppress opposition remains clear. These incidents illustrate how the Islamic Republic prioritizes maintaining its ideological grip at any cost, even when faced with widespread dissent and condemnation.
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