Iranian Authorities Continue to Quash Dissent

Many believe that the current "state of war" with Israel may provide the Islamic Republic of Iran with an opportune window to more effectively deal with its ongoing domestic challenge of quashing dissent.

Some Iranian social media users believe that the authorities’ sudden intensification of the crackdown on women over the mandated hijab could be a deliberate attempt to divert attention from Tehran’s missile attacks on Israel.

Others suggest it may have been aimed at suppressing potential anti-war protests that could overshadow the regime’s claims of victory regarding the "hard revenge" operations planned against the Islamic Republic's archenemy – the "Zionist regime".

Omid Shams, a lawyer and director at the London-based NGO Justice for Iran, however, finds a direct correlation between the new wave of hijab crackdown and foreign conflict.

“There is a historical precedence to this,” he told Iran International, explaining that in the early days of the Islamic Revolution, when war with Iraq began in 1980, Iran's then-ruler Ruhollah Khomeini similarly found the time right to realize his wish to force women into wearing the hijab.