Arab women (illustrative)
Arab women (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Police in Tehran are conducting a new crackdown on women wearing the mandatory headscarves improperly or who are seen dressed in a “vulgar” fashion, the city’s police chief said, according to media reports on Saturday.

Police monitor pedestrian and vehicle traffic at major junctions and shopping centers quite often in Iran.

The most recent operation was ordered days ahead of the May 4 second round of parliamentary elections, and as the onset of warm spring weather prompts Iranian women to wear lighter, and possible more revealing, clothing, the AFP reported.

The police chief, Hossein Sajedinia, said the crackdown was “asked for by the people,” the Fars news agency reported.

Women wearing “bad headscarves, bad dress, and model-type women in vulgar dress” would be stopped, he said.

Women who are found to be in violation of the dress code are fined or detained in police stations until relatives come to bail them out with more modest clothing.

Sadejinia said that companies importing “illegal clothes” that do not comply with Islamic dress standards would be closed down.

The police chief said that “thugs” disrupting public order and men “who bother other people’s daughters and wives” would also be detained.