Iranian cleric Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei looks at stray dogs outside his shelter as they are being fed, outside the city of Qom, 80 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 21, 2023. It's rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)





A new surface-to-surface ballistic missile called Khaibar with a range of 2,000 km, unveiled by Iran, is seen in Tehran, Iran, May 25, 2023. (Photo by WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





An Iranian woman carries her belongings as she walks next to a wall painting in a street in Tehran, Iran, 12 June 2023. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on 11 June during a meeting with Iranian nuclear scientists, that the West could not stop Iran's nuclear progress, as he urged continued cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), amidst the scrutiny from Western powers on the country's nuclear programme. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)





A man plays snooker at a club in Tehran on June 26, 2023. A passion for snooker has swept Iran in recent years, a trend fans attribute largely to the country's first internationally renowned star Hossein Vafaei, known as the “Persian Prince”. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)





Iranian actor Mona Soufi gets her makeup done backstage before performing in the “Haft-Khan Esfandiar” musical theater production at the Vahdat Hall in Tehran, Iran, 27 June 2023. Haft-Khan Esfandiar is part of the poem 'Shahnameh' by Iranian poet Abul Qasem Ferdowsi, dating back to the 11th century. Shahnameh is one of the world's longest poems created by a single poet and is considered the greatest epic of Farsi (Persian) speaking countries. The popular theater production is directed by Hossein Parsaie. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)





An Iranian woman prays on Eid al-Adha at the shrine of Abdol-Azim in Tehran, Iran on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





An Iranian woman kisses her sacrificial sheep for Eid al-Adha celebrations at a cattle market in Tehran, Iran, 29 June 2023. Eid al-Adha is the holiest of the two Muslims holidays celebrated each year, it marks the yearly Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj) to visit Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam. Muslims slaughter a sacrificial animal in memory of a biblical story about prophet Abraham readiness to sacrifice his own son after a command from god in a dream. After an animal has been sacrificed the meat is usually split into three parts, one for the family, one for friends and relatives, and one for the poor and needy. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)





An Iranian demonstrator holds up a copy of Quran, Islam's holy book, during a protest of the burning of a Quran in Sweden, in front of the Swedish Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 30, 2023. On Wednesday, a man who identified himself in Swedish media as a refugee from Iraq burned a Quran outside a mosque in central Stockholm. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)





Three Iranian women bathe in the sea on a shore of the Caspian sea in the city of Babolsar north of Tehran, on July 14, 2023 in Babolsar, Iran. The 7th National Festival of Sand Sculptures is being held in this town on the edge of the Caspian Sea. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)





Iranian women walk on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





Iran's police forces stand on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





Iranian women walk on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





Iran's police forces walk on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





An Iranian woman walks on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)





Iranian students display slogans written on their hands during a demonstration denouncing the burning in Sweden of the Koran, Islam's holy book, in front of Swedish embassy in Tehran on July 21, 2023. Demonstrators marched in the Iraqi and Iranian capitals on July 21 to denounce Sweden's permission for protests that desecrate the Koran, as Stockholm withdrew staff from its Baghdad embassy. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)





An Iranian woman is crafting a handmade carpet in a weaving workshop in a house in Nushabad, Kashan province, central Iran, 26 July 2023. Handmade carpets from Kashan are renowned in the country and around the world. However, Iran's carpet industry has been impacted due to the sanctions imposed on Iran because of its nuclear program. Iran used to be a significant exporter of handmade carpets globally. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)





Shia Muslim women attend the mourning procession within Muharram month devotees commemorate the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein (Husayn Ibn Ali) along with 72 loyal companions, who was killed in the battle of Karbala at Sadat Ahavi Hussainiya, which has a history of 250 years, in Tehran, Iran on July 26, 2023. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)





Youths dress up as demons in preparation for the annual religious performance of Taazieh in the Iranian city of Noosh Abad on July 26, 2023, during the Muslim month of Muharram in the lead-up to Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)





A boy has his body painted in black and red to portray a demon as he prepares to join an annual religious performance of Taazieh in Noosh Abad, on July 26, 2023, during the Muslim month of Muharram in the lead-up to Ashura commemorating the seventh-century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)





Iranian and Iraqi Shiite Muslims re-enact the Battle of Karbala during the Ashura day ceremonies in Tehran, Iran, 28 July 2023. Shiite Muslims are observing the month of Muharram, the climax of which is the Ashura festival that commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in the Iraqi city of Karbala in the seventh century. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)