Cloud seeding starts in Iran as drought spurs public rain prayers

“Combating nudity and improper hijab is a special priority for the judiciary and judicial officers, and those who issue permits or organize events that violate the law and Sharia will be prosecuted,” Mizan said in a report on Sunday.

Mizan added that agencies authorized to issue permits for ceremonies, celebrations, or gatherings “must obtain serious commitments from applicants to observe social norms before issuing permits and maintain continuous on-site monitoring during events to ensure these commitments are upheld.”

Mizan said prosecutors should supervise how permit-issuing bodies enforce these requirements and act against any negligence.

The outlet cited earlier remarks by Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who has repeatedly warned that authorities view what they call social “abnormalities” as part of an organized effort.

Ejei has said he instructed prosecutors “to ask security and law enforcement agencies to identify organized and foreign-linked groups involved in social abnormalities and refer them to the judiciary.”

Ejei has argued that the promotion of improper hijab and related behavior is one of the “enemy’s” tools to undermine religious and social values, telling officials in recent speeches that security, intelligence, and judicial bodies must act against groups the state considers coordinated or foreign-influenced.

He has also said event organizers, venue operators, and permit-issuing bodies share legal responsibility for any violation that occurs at their gatherings and will be prosecuted as accomplices if they fail to prevent acts deemed contrary to law or Sharia.

He urged prosecutors to demand strict oversight from judicial officers across public venues such as restaurants, cafés, and entertainment spaces.

Mizan's report comes as authorities in Iran are increasingly targeting businesses rather than individuals who refuse to observe the theocracy’s strict social laws around veiling and gender mixing.

Last month, authorities in Tehran shut down two cafe-restaurants over alleged violations including “serving alcohol, nudity, and mixed-gender dancing.”

Since August, at least 20 cafes, garden restaurants, and wedding halls have been closed in Tehran, Dezful, Hamedan, Kashan and Maragh in Isfahan province over alleged hijab violations, according to a report by reformist daily Ham Mihan.

Speaking at a meeting of the Defense Ministry’s Strategic Council, Masoud Pezeshkian said the ministry’s capabilities could help coordinate different sectors of the state and support efforts to correct fiscal and administrative shortages that have contributed to chronic budget deficits and inefficiencies.

Pezeshkian’s visit included a stop at facilities damaged during the June 12-day war with Israel, according to state media.

Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh briefed the president on plans to expand defense capabilities and deepen cooperation with public and private sectors, including technology transfer and joint industrial projects.

Pezeshkian said the armed forces’ manpower and technical expertise could be used “to help resolve problems and manage the country’s imbalances,” adding that overcoming economic strain required the same “collective mobilization” that Iran relied on during the 1980–88 war with Iraq.

He accused Iran’s adversaries of seeking to exacerbate domestic economic pressures, saying foreign powers “know that a military attack alone cannot bring down the Islamic Republic” and instead try to fuel discontent over inflation and shortages.

The president said that a “bloated administrative structure” and its associated costs remain key drivers of Iran’s budget deficit. He said his government is working to curb spending and improve productivity as it drafts next year’s budget.

“It is unacceptable to fund an administrative system, pay its staff, and yet see public dissatisfaction with the quality of services,” Pezeshkian said, urging reforms to reduce overheads and improve efficiency.

He also stressed that “unity and cohesion” were essential for addressing the country’s structural problems. “For 47 years we have focused on changing individuals rather than fixing root causes. We must begin reforms with ourselves,” he said.

The event had turned the university “into a venue for inappropriate entertainment,” according to the Basij group statement. Fars reported that music with political themes had been played over images showing unveiled participants.

Tehran Design Week, which began on November 10, brought together designers presenting creative works across multiple venues in the city.

Images of women attending without the compulsory hijab had already drawn wide attention on social media, where videos shared from the event showed strong turnout from young people.

“The movement promoting moral corruption not only rejects any boundaries, but shows a clear determination to push the situation further and make it worse. This trend – with new examples emerging every day – is intolerable for the religious majority of society and will eventually lead to a social and cultural explosion,” Fars added.

Some government-aligned social media accounts criticized the festival and directed their criticism at university officials and the science minister.

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  New Tehran Fashion Week set to test Iran's morality limits

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  Iranian prosecutors set to target anti-hijab groups

The shutdown comes as Iran shows selective signs of easing social controls while deepening its political clampdown.

A Reuters analysis last week said while signs of looser social restrictions have appeared in several Iranian cities, the government has simultaneously expanded the scope of political repression – a trend that activists and some former Iranian officials say has intensified to an unprecedented degree in recent months.

At an official ceremony unveiling a new statue in Tehran’s Enghelab Square earlier in November, participants faced no mandatory hijab restrictions.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, based in Washington DC, told Reuters that the strategy shows “tactical management” but the government's red lines remain firm.

The hijab, which became a central fault line after the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, is now being enforced unevenly.

With public anger simmering and officials wary of another wave of nationwide unrest, President Masoud Pezeshkian has declined to put into effect the hardline-supported “Hijab and Chastity” law passed last year.

“That contradiction is deliberate: a release valve for the public, coupled with a hard ceiling on genuine dissent,” Vatanka added.

“The Houthis are currently facing a crisis of options and priorities, pressing internal challenges, and a complex regional landscape that does not allow them much, especially after indications of a shift in some of Tehran’s approaches towards the countries of the region,” the outlet wrote on Thursday.

Quds Force commander Abdolreza Shahlaei returned to Sanaa after previously being recalled to Iran, the report said.

“The Revolutionary Guards and experts who are present as jihadist assistants to the Houthis do not fill this strategic void. They are essentially an extension and reflection of the confusion that exists in Tehran… The Iranians were forced to return the prominent leader, Abdolreza Shahlaei, to Sana’a after October 7.”

Shahlaei is one of the Revolutionary Guard’s most enigmatic commanders, and Iran International reported in March that the Islamic Republic had neither confirmed nor denied his existence.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Shahlaei and set a $15 million reward for information on his network and activities. US officials say he survived a drone strike the same night former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad and remains central to Iran’s Yemen operations.

A separate report on Friday in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted senior Yemeni political sources as saying that Iran is increasing military and security support to compensate for what they called its setbacks elsewhere.

Recent Israeli strikes exposed major security failures within the Houthis, damaging the group’s standing, according to source speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat.

This is according to text and audio notes sent to Iran International TV by its audience in Tehran.

Number of households report barer tables, school truancy and outright hunger, with blame leveled at the government for policies that have turned affordable meals into luxuries.

Iran International asked its audience to share and submit messages on the effects of rising costs on their daily grocery shopping.

Families, from urban renters to rural households, describe slashing most of their food budgets, surviving on basics like low-quality rice, potatoes and bread while dreaming of proteins long unaffordable.

"Staples like red meat, chicken and fish are gone. If this government stays, other foods will vanish gradually, like it or not," another message said.

"The majority—or like 80%—of food basket items eliminated: chicken, eggs, dairy and tons more. The remaining 20%? A hard struggle to provide," one message said.

'Scarce list'

Some listed the items they had to cut from their grocery lists due to high prices and lack of affordability.

"We had to cut chicken, eggs, rice, fish, shrimp. Also nuts and dried fruits, including pistachios, hazelnuts; high-priced fruits, sweets are out," another message said.

Messages indicate that the most essential parts of daily life are vanishing from consumers' baskets.

"Meat, fish, rice, chicken, plus beans and fruits are all out. No way we could afford such luxuries," one message said.

"Every imaginable item gone from our basket. No meat in six months. Life's brutal—my 16-year-old son dropped out of school to work. Still can't cover daily needs. God curse the clerical government and Ali Khamenei."

A water shortage in Iran is becoming more widespread with people reporting pressure drops and low-quality water even as Tehran officials deny reports of rationing.