Iran International
Hardline lawmakers in Iran have once again turned to impeachment, targeting four ministers in President Masoud Pezeshkian’s cabinet, in what critics say is a bid to stall the government rather than to offer alternatives.
On Thursday, Ahmad Bigdeli, a member of parliament from Khodabandeh, told Khabar Online that hardliners had tabled motions against Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi, Roads and Urban Planning Minister Farzaneh Sadegh, Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri and Labor Minister Ahmad Maydari.
Bigdeli called the move “untimely and most probably ineffective and symbolic,” echoing the outcome of the only successful impeachment to date during Pezeshkian's term: that of Economy Minister Abdolnasser Hemmati in March.
The move against Hemmati was widely viewed as pointless, as he was replaced by Ali Madanizadeh, whose economic policies closely mirror his predecessor’s.
‘Destabilizing’
Over the past year, hardliners have made their presence felt in scattered episodes—from the ousting of Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif to parliamentary scuffles over leadership—but have repeatedly disappointed their grassroots by settling for short-term wins.
Lacking both strategy and leadership, they now appear more intent on limiting Pezeshkian’s room to maneuver than on offering alternatives.
“Hardliners are using impeachment as a tool to pressure the Pezeshkian administration,” moderate journalist and politician Mohammad Sadegh Javadihesar said. “Such moves destabilize the government while the country is at war.”
Moderate political activist Ali Bagheri added a warning: “Impeaching four or five ministers will break the government’s back,” he told the moderate daily Etemad. “When the administration is destabilized, even local officials in small towns cannot fulfill their responsibilities.”
Even some conservatives distanced themselves from the move against the executive.
“Radical MPs are targeting the administration for political gain,” conservative MP Jalal Rashidi Kochi said. “There’s no doubt some ministers are unfit for their roles, but I wish Pezeshkian would take the initiative to replace them.”
‘Costly for people’
The episode underscored how hardliners appear to lack a coherent plan of their own.
The renewed brinkmanship also reflects a deeper struggle within the conservative camp, which has failed to reclaim dominance since the death of hardline president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last year.
Its cohesion further eroded after the death of ultraconservative cleric Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, founder of the influential Paydari Party.
His would-be successor, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, largely avoids the spotlight, leaving the faction without a unifying figure.
“Hardliners thought Raisi’s administration would last forever and keep them in power,” moderate journalist Hamidreza Jalaipour told Khabar Online.
Condemning their rhetoric—including threats to exit the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and shut down the Strait of Hormuz—he said: “They are victims of their own illusions, for which the country pays a high price.”
The remarks by Expediency Council member Mohammad-Reza Bahonar come as Iran’s leadership struggles to contain public discontent while facing renewed UN sanctions.
The fierce subsequent backlash underscores deepening fractures within Iran’s conservative establishment over how far the state should go in policing morality and religious codes.
Speaking to reporters on October 3, Bahonar said the Hijab and Chastity Law—quietly shelved by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) in May—is “no longer legally enforceable.”
It was likely shelved due to concerns it would inflame tensions after the 2022 death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in morality police custody sparked nationwide protests which were quashed with deadly force.
“The paradigms of the Islamic Republic are being gradually and softly reformed,” Bahonar said, adding there is currently no binding or enforceable law regarding hijab. “The system’s general decision is that there is no compulsory hijab law in force.”
The veteran conservative bashed ‘Hezbollahis’—hardline Islamist loyalists—for attempting to dictate their preferences to the 90 percent of Iran's citizenry who “want to live” as they choose.
‘Savage, naked' West
At Saturday’s heated parliament session, ultra-hardline lawmakers launched a coordinated attack.
“Which system’s interests are you defending in the Expediency Council—the Islamic Republic’s or that of the savage, naked Western system?” senior MP Ahmad Rastineh said, addressing an absent Bahonar.
“Those who promote and defend nudity and say there is no hijab law are no different from those who frighten the nation with the shadow of war. Both target the Islamic system,” he added.
Amirhossein Bankipour, one of the law’s architects, blamed Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and President Masoud Pezeshkian for blocking its enforcement, saying on state TV that both men had “failed to communicate Parliament’s decision to executive bodies.”
In a recent Fox News interview, Pezeshkian reaffirmed his opposition to coercion, saying he “does not believe in forcing women to wear the hijab.”
Bankipour invoked Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s position, insisting: “The Leader has stated several times—publicly and unambiguously—that there will be no retreat on the issue of chastity and hijab.”
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hardline daily Kayhan, denounced Bahonar’s terminology, saying the phrase “compulsory hijab” was “fabricated by the enemies of Islam and the Revolution.”
“Mr. Bahonar has not explained what he means by using the term ‘compulsory hijab,’” Shariatmadari wrote. “If the hijab is a legal requirement—and it is—why should it not be enforced?”
Quiet retreat
Khamenei last forcefully touched on the issue in an April 2023 when he declared that disregarding the hijab was both “religiously and politically haram (forbidden).”
Meanwhile, the reformist outlet Ensaf News reports that Iran’s urban landscape has already moved past the old debate.
In Tehran and some other cities, the number of women wearing headscarves has markedly decreased, while many others wear loose scarves on their shoulders and the back of their hair.
The once-ubiquitous manteau coat has nearly vanished, replaced by long blouses and trousers. Crop tops and open shirts have become increasingly visible among young women—a quiet but unmistakable shift in daily life.