The ‘Satanic’ women of Iranian soccer

Iran’s prosecutor-general says he is “ashamed.”

In June, for the first time since 1981, Tehran allowed women to enter Azadi Stadium for a soccer match — or, more precisely, for a live broadcast of a soccer match in Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup. As they watched Team Melli, their national team, compete against Spain, numerous women removed their hijabs, or headscarves, and sang and danced — a deliberate act of defiance against the Islamic Republic’s religious norms. It’s “disgraceful,” complained Mohammad Jafar Montazeri.

“Unfortunately,” the senior law enforcement official declared, “some individuals have penetrated the key institutions of the country and are about to betray the revolution and the blood of our martyrs.”

Their “satanic” agenda, he added, will not succeed.

And yet, to some degree, it already has.

Tzvi Kahn is a senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based non-partisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter @TzviKahn.