Iran International
Reports from Tehran by a British Muslim commentator depicting normalcy and freedom after Iran’s violent crackdown on dissent have triggered a backlash, with critics accusing authorities of using foreign voices to legitimize their narrative.
Bushra Shaikh, who was in Tehran for the state-backed 22 Bahman rally marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, wrote on X that she walked through the gathering without wearing a headscarf and faced no interference.
“Yes, I walked the entire rally in Tehran without a hijab and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing,” she wrote. “There is evidently more of a relaxed tone around hijab—I experienced it for myself.”
Critics said her experience reflected selective tolerance, pointing out that she had to wear a headscarf when appearing on Iran’s English-language state broadcaster.
Community notes attached to her posts added context, stating that hijab remains legally mandatory in Iran and that enforcement has been widely documented by human rights organizations.
In her posts and interviews, Shaikh also challenged Western coverage of Iran, arguing that the government enjoys broad public support and that sanctions—not hijab laws or political repression—are the public’s primary concern.
She further accused Israel’s Mossad and its alleged agents of killing civilians and security forces during unrest to inflate casualty figures.
Her comments prompted widespread condemnation online. Many Iranian users said her reporting echoed official narratives and ignored the risks faced by Iranian women who defy compulsory veiling.
One user wrote that Shaikh’s ability to appear unveiled at the rally was the result of sacrifices made by protesters. “
The same Bushra Shaikh, who today is reporting without hijab in Revolution Street for Western eyes in praise of freedom of dress, is the result of the blood of hundreds of youths who died right here three years ago,” the post said.
The controversy unfolded as state media aired interviews with several unveiled women at the rally—an unusual sight at official events. Government outlets presented the interviews as evidence of broad public support, including among women who do not adhere to strict dress codes.
Amjad Amini, the father of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, whose death in morality police custody in 2022 sparked nationwide protests, responded by reposting an image of one such interview.
“They killed my innocent daughter over a few strands of hair, and no one was held accountable,” he wrote on Instagram. “And now they film girls with bare heads … at official ceremonies and broadcast it, and no one cries out that Islamic rules have been broken. Strange times.”
Hijab enforcement in Iran has shifted unevenly since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022 and 2023, which forced authorities into a partial retreat in the face of widespread defiance. Increasing numbers of women now appear unveiled in public spaces, particularly in major cities.
But compulsory hijab remains law, and enforcement continues in institutional settings, including government offices, schools and universities.
Responding to Shaikh’s posts, US-based women’s rights activist Atieh Bakhtiar wrote on X that her experience did not reflect reality for most Iranian women.
“If thousands hadn’t died … the Islamic Republic would’ve arrested her and beaten her,” she said. “Instead, she’s their mouthpiece now.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
