Iranian women walk in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, August 5, 2023. These days, with uncovered women a common sight on Tehran streets, authorities have begun raiding companies where women employees or customers have been seen without the headscarf, or hijab. Iran's parliament is discussing a law that would increase punishments on uncovered women and the businesses they frequent. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

Girls talk outside the Niavaran Palace in northern Tehran, capital of Iran, March 26, 2024. People visited the Niavaran Palace during the new year vacation of Nowruz, which falls on March 20 this year. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An Iranian woman without wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf flashes a victory sign as two head-to-toe veiled women walk at the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

A supporter of the Houthis has a poster attached to his waist of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, during a rally to denounce the U.S. killing, in Saada, Yemen January 6, 2020. The writing on the poster reads: “God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”. (Photo by Naif Rahma/Reuters)

A woman prays during a gathering with other devotees for the ritual prayers for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny), one of the holiest nights during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, outside the Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in Tehran, on April 10, 2023. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

A woman walks depicting a scene from the Iranian national epic poem “Shahnameh” in Tehran on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

An Iranian athlete warms up prior to the start of the women's karate competition, made-up of clubs and teams from around the Tehran province, in Tehran on November 6, 2025. Some 230 participants, including 5-year-old girls, took part in the competition, with team's deriving only from the Tehran province taking part. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)