Iran Walks Back Its Decision to Disband Morality Police at Root of Mass Protests

The status of Iran’s totalistic “morality police” is in flux, after state media walked back an earlier announcement on Saturday that the force had been disbanded. The law enforcement agency, known formally as Gasht-e Ershad, is responsible for enforcing the country’s strict Islamic dress code and is the target of 70 days of unrest as widespread protests led by women overtake some cities in the Middle Eastern nation. “The morality police had nothing to do with the judiciary and have been shut down from where they were set up,” said Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country’s attorney general, at a news conference Saturday. He also told the Iranian parliament the country would examine a law that required women to always wear hijabs. But on Sunday, lawmakers suggested a less confrontational approach after a closed meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi. “Both the administration and parliament insisted that paying attention to the people’s demand that is mainly economic is the best way for achieving stability and confronting the riots,” said Nezamoddin Mousavi, according to Iranian news agency ISNA.