Iran’s rattled government may be backing down

three months of spreading , Iran’s theocratic regime seems to be dithering. In their first big concession since demonstrations erupted in September after the death of Mahsa Amini for not wearing a “proper” hijab, the clerics hinted that they are disbanding the morality police force in whose custody she died. It had been “shut down”, said the prosecutor-general, Muhammad Jaafar Montazeri, adding that unspecified “cultural” methods would be adopted instead. Come mid-December, he promised, a decision would be taken on whether to abolish the mandatory hijab altogether. It has already been thrown off in the streets. The morality police’s “guidance patrol”, which combed public places to capture young women and haul them off for re-education, disappeared at the start of the unrest, once protesters began torching their vans. Millions of women have discarded their veils, sometimes burning them. Celebrities previously paid to sing the regime’s praises have followed the example of rebellious schoolgirls by appearing bareheaded. For weeks unveiled women have stridden past the security forces’ scathing eyes. “It’s ,” says a teacher, who marvelled at bareheaded women boarding flights and passing through passport controls.