Iran island race organizers detained after women run without hijab

“Society appears to me changed a lot. Very different,” Limbert said. “If you look at the government, the ruling apparatus, it’s been remarkable, it’s basically stayed the same. The same little men’s club, elite men’s club has run the country.”

“Look at the literacy rate. When we were there, it was about 50 percent. Now it’s well over… ninety five, ninety six.”

Literacy has been one of the biggest structural changes in Iranian life.

In 1976, 48.8 percent of people aged 10 to 49 were literate. By 2021, that figure had reached 97.1 percent. The literacy gap between men and women dropped from 23.4 percent to 6 percent.

Limbert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and spent 14 months as a hostage after the US Embassy was seized in November 1979. Nine of those months were in solitary confinement.

“There’s a narrative out there that we were treated well, but we were not. Fourteen months I was there; nine months I was in solitary.”

Archival video online shows a striking exchange inside the embassy compound in 1979: Limbert speaking directly with Ali Khamenei who was a senior official in the new government and is now Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Limbert greets Khamenei and makes a wry remark about Iranian hospitality, saying that in Iran “even when a guest insists, he must go, he is told ‘no, no, you must stay.’” It was his polite way of saying he wanted to leave, delivered through the cultural language of taarof, the elaborate politeness that shapes everyday interactions.

'Back of beyond'

Limbert first traveled to Iran in 1962, later returned as a Peace Corps volunteer and as an instructor at Pahlavi University in Shiraz. He speaks Persian and earned all his degrees from Harvard University.

While the ruling structure of the Islamic Republic is still dominated by the same generation that took power in 1979, Iranian society itself, Limbert says, has changed in profound ways.

Limbert said the most dramatic change is visible far from Tehran, in places that once felt remote and forgotten.

“Yasuj was the back of beyond… now there’s a university there. Darab in Fars… it was a dead town. There was nobody there. Now there’s a university there.”

He praised the creative boom that has emerged under pressure.

“Culture is amazing. Look at the films that are coming out of Iran… look at the creativity.”

Recent scenes from inside Iran capture this contrast vividly. A marathon in the Persian Gulf island of Kish took place on Friday with more than 5,000 runners. Footage shows most female runners without hijab — a sight that would have been unthinkable decades ago.

Yet these images exist alongside something darker.

Authorities have executed over 1000 people thus far in 2025, the highest number of yearly executions in Iran according to Amnesty International. This includes political detainees, ethnic minorities and protesters. Human rights groups report intensified repression, mass arrests and new surveillance campaigns.

And while society has modernized, the ruling system has barely moved.

“They took power in ’79, and they’ve held it ever since. They or their followers are still around," said Limbert.

For Limbert, Iran is moving in two directions at once. “It’s going in both directions at the same time.” He does not predict collapse, but he questions endurance.

“I don’t think it can last forever. But I don’t know how long.”

US President Donald Trump attended the ceremony and received the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize from Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), world football’s governing body, for promoting global peace and unity.

“This is truly one of the great honors of my life. Beyond awards, we have saved millions and millions of lives," Trump said. "The Congo is an example. India, Pakistan — so many different wars we were able to end, in some cases, a little bit before they started."

Iran will open the tournament against New Zealand on 15 June in Seattle, with further group games in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Several senior Iranian football officials were denied US visas for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw in Washington, prompting an initial threat by the Iran Football Federation (FFIRI) to boycott the event.

Out of nine members of the delegation who applied for visas, only four were granted entry, including head coach Ardeshir Amir Ghalenoei, while other senior officials, including federation president Mehdi Taj, were denied.

Despite the visa restrictions, the partial delegation attended the draw ceremony, ensuring Iran’s participation.

The team has now reached its seventh World Cup and its fourth in a row. Their arrival in the US comes against the backdrop of longstanding entry restrictions that continue to shape travel rules for Iranian nationals.

The top two teams and the eight best third-placed sides will advance to the round of 32.

The episode marks a rare public challenge to dogma in the Islamic Republic and the strength of opposition to any religious free thinking by stalwart backers of the system.

Abdolrahim Soleimani Ardestani, in a debate with fellow cleric Hamed Kashani circulated on video over social media, challenged the canonical story of the “martyrdom" of Fatemeh, a revered matriarch and the daughter of the prophet Mohammed.

A video of the discussion on YouTube had garnered 17,000 comments, among them arguments strongly for and against his remarks.

He argued that if her husband the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali, had merely watched events unfold, he would be “complicit in the killing," in an important challenge to the notion that the central figure in early Islamic history was a paragon of justice.

Ardestani went to attribute the death of the ninth Shi'ite Imam, Javad, to the jealousy of his wife and said mourning such an event for centuries was misguided.

State-appointed eulogists, who lead the faithful with chants before prayers, tore into the maverick cleric on Friday according to videos which circulated on social media.

"Damn that dishonorable Ardestani bastard with no roots, all the way till Judgment Day," said one eulogist, Hossein Sotoudeh.

Officials signal punitive response

Mohammadali Amani, secretary-general of the Islamic Coalition Party, urged legal action against Ardestani without naming him, saying on X that insulting Shi'ite sanctities was “an unforgivable sin.”

Cleric Alireza Sanjari Araki, responding to a religious query, said that denying the martyrdom of Fatemeh or the “absolute guardianship of the Ahl al-Bayt” could place a person outside Shi'ite doctrine and subject them to rulings of unbelief.

He was referring to the family of the Prophet Mohammed from whom the Fatemeh, Ali and Javad hailed. The Shi'ite tradition regards them as holy spiritual and political figures.

Tasnim News wrote that the subject was inherently “a matter of honor” for Shi'ites.

Social-media backlash widens

Pro-government users have inundated Ardestani with verbal abuse, while others condemned the attacks and defended his right to question historical narratives.

A social media user going by the name Mohammad Hossein Rajabloo said Ardestani needed to quit his neighborhood otherwise his home would be attacked.

But another user wrote that verbal violence by eulogists “goes beyond a jurisprudential dispute,” adding that divergent views are now met “not in forums for free inquiry, but with crude language from public pulpits.”

Others argued that critical reasoning threatens entrenched interests or that his questions did not warrant such escalation.

Reformist cleric Mohammadali Abtahi said former president Mohammad Khatami objected to Ardestani’s remarks in a recent meeting, arguing they harm the cause of religious reform.

The moderate Mardomsalari Party called the cleric’s comments “coarse” and contrary to Shi'ite beliefs but said violence, or attacks on his home were unacceptable and violated freedoms of expression and belief.

The confrontation underscores the Islamic Republic’s long record of harsh responses to perceived theological dissent, evoking past cases such as the decades-long targeting of author Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie was left with serious injuries including the loss of an eye when he was stabbed while giving a talk in the United States in 2022.

The attempted murder is believed to have been inspired by the fatwa issued by the Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini against Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.

On Wednesday, Iran’s parliament voted to cut the threshold for criminal enforcement from the long-standing ceiling of 110 gold coins, introduced in 2013, to just 14.

The measure passed as part of a broader bill to curb the criminalization of debt.

Legal scholar Mohsen Borhani was among the first to sound the alarm when the proposal surfaced earlier this year.

“Once again, a misogynistic bill is moving toward approval,” he posted on X, arguing that mehriyeh remains one of the few practical tools women have in a system where laws and practices heavily favor men.

Lawmakers, he wrote, should revise “all the reciprocal rights of spouses, not tilt the law to one side, and certainly not in a way that harms women.”

Mehriyeh, the inverse of dowry in Western traditions, is negotiated before marriage and legally treated as a debt. It becomes payable at divorce, on demand, or from the husband’s estate if he dies.

While it can take the form of money, property, or symbolic items, government-minted gold coins have become standard over the past few decades; amounts routinely reach hundreds of coins, each worth around $1,000.

Some conservatives inside parliament echoed that concern this week.

Lawmaker Sara Fallahi said the decision would alienate the public from religion “because it limits women’s rights in the name of Sharia.”

Supporters, including Mehrdad Lahouti, counter that more than 25,000 men have been jailed over unpaid mehriyeh and insist the reform will reduce imprisonment for debt.

For decades, criminal enforcement has been central to the function of mehriyeh: it gave women a swift and powerful remedy when husbands refused payment and acted as one of the few bargaining tools available in divorce or marital disputes.

Ankle monitor

Under the new rule, a man unable to pay more than 14 coins could be fitted with an electronic ankle monitor rather than jailed while the remaining debt is pursued.

The legislation still requires approval by the Guardian Council. If finalized, only claims up to 14 coins could trigger criminal sanctions; everything above that would fall into slow and often uncertain civil litigation.

Many families choose 14 coins in reference to the 12 Shi’a Imams plus Prophet Mohammad and his daughter, Fatima.

In many divorces, women surrender part or all of their mehriyeh in exchange for custody or simply for the husband’s consent to dissolve the marriage—another reason reform critics view mehriyeh as a crucial form of leverage in a system already tilted toward men.

Iran’s Sharia-based legal framework contains numerous provisions that disadvantage women, particularly in family and inheritance law.

Men can divorce without proving fault, bar their wives from working or traveling abroad, and legally marry multiple wives. Women must establish serious grounds to obtain a divorce and often rely on mehriyeh as the only enforceable financial safeguard available to them.

Critics fear that without the threat of criminal consequences, many wives—especially those without independent income—will be left to pursue claims through years of civil litigation with little guarantee of recovery.

“Such an approach will easily widen the gender gap and undermine public trust in the process of reforming family laws,” the conservative Farhikhtegan daily warned.

“I prefer to leave my artistic work for a day when the Islamic Republic no longer exists in my country,” she said.

Embarking on a farewell tour, she framed her decision within the wider social shifts unfolding in Iran, particularly the growing rejection of the compulsory hijab and the generational frustration she believes now defines the country.

“We are seeing our youth, especially women, fighting for their most basic rights,” she said, describing a society confronting economic strain, political repression and demands for ordinary freedoms.

Defiance of compulsory veiling is now widespread in Iran as women and girls appear in public without headscarves in one of the most visible social shifts since Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022.

The pressures facing a new generation, Googoosh said, have accelerated her own sense of responsibility as an artist.

“People in my country are struggling to give their families an ordinary life. They struggle for clean water, clean air, and land where they can live. Our young people grew old without ever enjoying their youth. Our people must end this painful cycle and gain the freedoms every human being deserves.”

Iran’s rulers have long relied on strict hijab enforcement by police and Basij forces. The current situation comes amid persistent power cuts, water shortages and a weakened economy, all of which risk fueling further anger.

A life shaped by stardom and silence

Born Faegheh Atashin, she entered the spotlight as a child performer and quickly became one of pre-revolution Iran’s most recognizable cultural figures. Her look, voice and stage presence shaped an entire era of Iranian pop culture.

After the 1979 revolution, she remained in Iran and spent two decades barred from performing under the new theocracy, facing surveillance, harassment and a period of imprisonment. When authorities finally allowed her to leave in 2000, she resumed her career abroad, launching a revival that connected her with Iranians who had long been cut off from her music.

“After the revolution, the pressure on me grew,” Googoosh said. “Since Farsi is my mother tongue and I grew up in Iran, I could not adjust to living outside my country. I did not want that life. I hoped I could somehow continue performing for my own people, inside my own country.”