Mahsa Kadkhoda #11 of Team Iran spikes the ball during their semi-final round match against Team Chinese Taipei on day seven of the AVC Cup For Women at PhilSports Arena on August 28, 2022 in Pasig, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

A woman takes a selfie picture as Turkish Kurds gather as part of Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir, on March 21, 2016. Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for “New Year”, is an ancient Persian festival, celebrated on the first day of spring, on March 21, in Central Asian republics, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran. (Photo by Ilyas Akengin/AFP Photo)

Two young women, having enjoyed a drink at a party, dance together in Tehran, Iran. Although unrelated men and women are forbidden to socialise together many people ignore these strictures in the privacy of their own homes. (Photo by Hossein Fatemi/Reuters/Panos Pictures/Courtesy of World Press Photo Foundation)

An officer of the Afghan border police throws an assault rifle to a policeman participating in a military exercise on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, Monday, September 7, 2015. Twelve female and seventy male border police personnel participated in the military exercise near the border with Iran in Herat province. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi/AP Photo)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

An Iraq fan poses before the World Cup 2022 Qualifier 2nd round Group C football match between Iraq and Iran at Amman International Stadium in Amman, Jordan on November 14, 2019. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)

Fans of Germany react as they watch the Euro 2016 match between France and Germany in France at a public screening of the match in Berlin, Germany, July 7, 2016. France won 2-0. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Natalie Geisenberger of Germany, Johannes Ludwig of Germany, Tobias Wendl of Germany and Tobias Arlt of Germany celebrate their teammates slide winning gold during the Luge Team Relay on day six of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at National Sliding Centre on February 10, 2022 in Yanqing, China. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)