A video showing Iran's morality police violently arresting two teenage girls has once again sparked widespread anger in Iran. The footage surfaced at a time when many Iranians had hoped that the newly installed centrist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, would fulfil his campaign promise to end or at least mitigate the violence perpetrated by the dreaded "Gasht-e-Ershad" patrols against women. But the president has not commented on the video, and his appointment of an ultra-hardline interior minister has dashed hopes of change on Iran’s strict hijab rules.
Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, tensions over the compulsory hijab remain as fierce as ever.
