Women in Tehran have begun receiving text-message warnings ordering them to “correct” their dress simply for walking down the street. Similar alerts had already surfaced in Isfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz, but this is the first broad wave to hit the capital. Separate reports indicate that the text campaign has also been rolled out in Qom, Rasht and Alborz.
Recipients say the messages come from the “Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice” (Setad). A provincial Setad official in Fars confirmed the campaign, saying it was approved in a closed meeting with police and other agencies, while the national office refuses to explain how citizens’ phone numbers were obtained.
The standard Tehran text reads:
“Greetings. You have appeared in public within Tehran without observing the legal dress code. Please comply with the law and adjust your attire. —Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, Tehran Province.”
Some women have also received a contrasting, “positive” message:
“Respected vehicle owner, because you have observed hijab norms and committed no repeat offenses for six months, your record has been cleared. We hope you will continue to support public security.”
Meanwhile, police have resumed impounding vehicles linked to multiple hijab warnings—one driver was forced to an approved lot after three prior alerts. Authorities have now escalated the tactic by texting fathers, brothers and husbands of women accused of improper dress, informing them that a female relative was seen unveiled.
Legal experts challenge the operation’s legitimacy. Attorney Ali Mojtahedzadeh notes that Article 8 of Iran’s constitution frames “enjoining good and forbidding evil” as a civic—not governmental—duty, giving Setad no statutory authority to harvest personal data. Lawyer Hassan Younesi argues that only police possess the surveillance tools to match CCTV or license plates to phone numbers and must disclose how the data is being shared. Likewise, Attorney Shima Ghusheh has warned that granting any body face-recognition or unrestricted data access to non-governmental entities breaches constitutional privacy rights and international human-rights standards.
Sociologist Fatemeh Mousavi-Viayeh linked the text messages to a broader culture denying women bodily autonomy, predicting rising public anger and clashes. Mousavi-Viayeh noted “Both the private-sphere violence inflicted on women and the text-message warnings about their dress spring from the same underlying mindset—the belief that women should not control their own bodies and therefore have no right to decide how they live.”
She warns that the consequences are obvious: rising public discontent and social friction. Mousavi-Viayeh expects more confrontations between ordinary people and the individuals—whether hired or self-appointed—who photograph unveiled women and report them. “Ultimately these tensions could spill over into open clashes,” she adds, recalling the recent incident in Qom where a mother breastfeeding her child in a clinic became the target of a heated dispute. “It is not far-fetched to imagine fresh unrest and conflict emerging from this same policy.”
The backlash has reached clerical ranks: Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi condemned texting male relatives, calling it “contrary to Islamic principles.” Until parliament enacts a dedicated hijab law, enforcement rests on the note to Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, which mandates jail or fines for appearing without “proper hijab.”
Amid mounting legal challenges, social resistance and clerical opposition, officials still have not explained who collects the data, how phone numbers are linked to surveillance images—or which agency authorized this latest digital front in Iran’s battle over compulsory hijab.