A video has gone viral on social media showing a woman without a mandatory headscarf confronting a cleric at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, removing his turban and placing it on her own head like a scarf during the altercation.
The video, shared widely on social media on Sunday and Monday, shows the woman angrily removing the turban and saying to the cleric, "So you have honor now?”
She then searches for her husband, calling his name and asking, "What did you do to my husband?"
The exact date and cause of the initial confrontation remain unclear.
A media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mashregh News, reported that the incident was unrelated to hijab and claimed the woman had "psychological problems."
The outlet also stated that the woman was briefly detained but later released "with the consent of the complainants."
The incident occurred within the context of increasing civil disobedience by women in Iran, particularly following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Crackdowns on women defying mandatory hijab in public places, including airports, have also intensified.
The government's tendency to pathologize dissent is a recurring theme. In November, a female student at the Azad University in Tehran’s Science and Research branch became a symbol of the movement for freedom of dress by removing her clothing in protest.
While many Iranians recognized the as an act of defiance, official narratives attempted to portray her as mentally unstable. Four Iranian psychology and psychiatry associations criticized the government last year for misusing psychiatry and psychology to suppress opposition to mandatory hijab.
Countering Mashregh News's claims, some social media users have interpreted the airport incident as a powerful act of protest, with some describing it as a " remarkable protest performance."
For instance, one user praised the woman's "transformation of the turban into a mandatory scarf" as an innovative form of resistance.
The Israeli television network Kan 11 also shared the video, framing it as a protest against the enforcement of mandatory hijab.
The incident highlights the ongoing struggle over women's rights in Iran. In the past two years, thousands of women have faced arrest, summons, fines, prosecution, or denial of public services for not adhering to the state-mandated dress code.
In December 2023, Mohsen Aghili, the head of airport police, stated that women would be denied airport services if they did not wear a hijab.
Prior to that, officials at airports in Fars province and Mashhad had announced the deployment of hijab enforcers to prevent what they called improperly veiled people from entering airports and terminals.
In July, the Tehran office of Turkish Airlines was temporarily closed due to its employees' non-compliance with hijab regulations.
The Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) reported in December that over 30,000 women faced legal action last year for defying mandatory hijab.
The Iranian authorities' efforts to enforce hijab continue through various means, including the recently passed the so-called Chastity and Hijab Law.
The final text of the "Family Protection through Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab" law was published in Iranian media in November, prompting widespread expressions of concern from several rights groups and activists, including UN experts.
Earlier in January, Rouhollah Momen-Nasab, the secretary of the Tehran Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, called for the law's implementation before the summer. However, the government is hesitant to enforce the law, likely due to concerns about public backlash.
“Syria must not become a safe haven for terrorists, and its people should decide their future without foreign, regional, or extra-regional interventions,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said during a press briefing on Monday.
In contrast, Khamenei accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating the removal of former President Bashar al Assad, urging resistance against what he described as a foreign-imposed government.
The fall of Assad in December and the rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has upended Iran’s influence in Syria, challenging its long-standing strategic foothold in the country.
The HTS-led government has already voiced its desire for Tehran to respect Syria’s sovereignty.
“We respect the choice and decisions of the Syrian people,” Baghaei said. The foreign ministry is advocating for diplomacy and cooperation with Syria while Khamenei’s rhetoric signals Tehran’s unwillingness to relinquish its influence in the country, which turned from being a key ally to a potential adversary as the Sunni HTS aligns with Iran's rivals in the region and garners international support.
US pressures and nuclear negotiations
Simultaneously, Iran faces mounting pressure from the United States over its nuclear program.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently presented President Joe Biden with potential military options against Iranian nuclear facilities as reported by Axios. Baghaei condemned these threats as violations of the United Nations Charter, calling on the Security Council to address what he described as provocations undermining international peace and security.
“The threat of force against a country’s peaceful nuclear facilities constitutes a double violation of international obligations,” Baghaei said. He accused Washington of attempting to dictate policies in preparation for the next US administration.
Iran’s strained relations with Western powers extend to stalled nuclear negotiations. Baghaei said talks with European countries are set to resume in Geneva on January 12 and insisted that Iran remains committed to dialogue, saying, “We have never avoided the negotiation table and have always believed in honorable negotiations.”
The talks come at a critical time, as the IAEA reports Iran’s progress in enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. Tehran insists its nuclear program remains peaceful, but international concerns persist over its potential for weaponization.
Last week Baku summoned Tehran's interim chargé d'affaires to demand an end to what it called "provocative actions" by Tehran. It followed a fervent anti-Baku speech by a lay Shia eulogist or religious singer, Gholamreza Gholizadeh, at an event in Ardabil, the capital of the northwestern province of the same name.
Tehran-Baku relations are very complex due to religious, ethnic, economic, and political factors including Tehran’s good relations with Armenia, its other northwestern neighbor, and Baku's strong ties with Iran's archenemy, Israel.
The maddah and his controversial speech
Gholizadeh, who leads a Shia mourning society in Ardabil that organizes ceremonies to honor Shia saints—delivered most of his speech in Turki, a language spoken in Iran's northwestern provinces that Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Azerbaijan easily understand.
During his speech, he referred to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as “bastards” and “consumers of illegitimately acquired food.”
The event, broadcast live by Iran’s state-run News Network, was attended by Seyyed Hassan Ameli, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in the province.
Gholizadeh also declared that Iran would reclaim its former territories in the Caucasus—lost during the Russo-Persian Wars (1651-1828)—and raise the Shia flag there. He further insulted early Islamic figures revered by Sunnis.
Over half the population of the Republic of Azerbaijan follows Shia Islam, but political power largely rests with Sunnis. Baku media often allege that radical Shia groups, such as Hüseynçilər (The Islamic Resistance Movement of Azerbaijan), receive backing from Iran.
The Ardabil event—the first of its kind in the Islamic Republic’s history—commemorated the “martyrs of the Battle of Chaldiran” in 1514. The battle between Iran’s Safavid Shia Empire and the Sunni Ottoman Empire ended in an Ottoman victory.
Criticism of authorities for giving free reign to maddahs
In an editorial on Monday titled “Are Maddahs Free to Say Whatever They Want and Insult Whoever They Wish?” the conservative newspaper Jomhouri Eslami criticized the insults directed at Azerbaijan’s president as both politically and religiously inappropriate.
According to Shia law, calling a person "a bastard" is an offense punishable by eighty lashes.
The newspaper also questioned the relevance of holding an event to commemorate the victims of the Battle of Chaldiran and criticized the failure of provincial authorities, including Ameli, to oversee and regulate such events. All government-approved gatherings in Iran are strictly monitored to ensure compliance with existing policies, though occasional lapses may occur during religious ceremonies.
Ameli who is also a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Friday prayer leader of Ardabil, appointed by Khamenei, took to X on Friday, two days after Baku’s strong reaction to the incident, to argue that the “inappropriate language” used by the maddah should not be construed as representing the Islamic Republic’s official stance.
Ameli’s post received nearly 350 comments, with opinions divided. While some supported the maddah’s highly controversial remarks, others criticized Ameli for failing to intervene during the speech, which he had praised as “epic.”
Critics alleged close ties between Ameli and the maddah’s religious group, with one commenter among the hundreds asking, “Were you not there? Why did you let him swear and insult? Stop this bragging and focus on the country’s progress. We will get nowhere with war and enmity.”
Another user, Gholamreza Tabrizi, claimed to have heard the full audio recording of the speech and warned that, if published, it could spark a diplomatic crisis with Sunni Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, because of its anti-Sunni content.
Under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s three-decade leadership, eulogists have gained prominence in both religious and political spheres. Many “celebrity eulogists” are closely affiliated with ultra-hardline political factions and use state-sponsored events, including Friday prayers, to promote their views.
“The most inappropriate language, the most irrelevant stances, and the most unconventional topics are often raised during Friday sermons,” wrote Hossein Selahvarzi, a former head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, in an X post addressing the Ardabil incident. “These actions frequently have repercussions for the country’s diplomatic apparatus and economy.”
Also criticizing the authorities for the recent incident in Ardabil, Mohsen Gharavian, a conservative politician and cleric, warned the authorities about the political and religious implications of maddahs’ increasing involvement in politics.
“The country’s key political authorities, such as the Supreme National Security Council … should warn these maddahs and thwart such divisiveness to prevent damages and political and social problems in the current sensitive situation in the region,” he said in an interview with the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) published Sunday.