ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Supreme Leader of Iran has attacked the "elite" who call for an end to the mandatory hijab, saying that women should not be given a choice over what to wear.
Ali Khamenei’s remarks come amid calls in Iran for a debate on whether women should be given a choice over the hijab after some defiant Iranian women have started to remove their headscarf in public places in protest of the law.
A day earlier, one of the protesters was given a two-year sentence for her protest.
Khamenei attacked a culture of "nudity" promoted by the west that he claimed would harm women by exposing them to violence.
He dismissed the hijab protest as having only a "small impact."
"What causes me sensitivity though is talking about 'mandatory hijab' by some elites," he said. "This group of people, who includes journalists, intellectuals, and mullahs, are taking the same line that our enemies have failed to achieve despite making a great investment."
"God willing, they are taking this line out of ignorance," Khamenei said of the “elites.”
Khamenei was speaking on the occasion of Iranian women day or mother day, which coincides with the birth of Fatimah, daughter of Prophet Muhammad. Globally, people are marking International Women’s Day.
He said Muslim women should take Fatimah as an example in their life, putting women in charge of family affairs in their roles as mothers, wives, and sisters.
This does not, however, mean that women should not take part in public life, he added, claiming that there are more women experts and scientists in Iran than at the time of the Shah, who was deposed by the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Khamenei ruled out any debate on whether women should have a choice over the hijab, comparing it to drinking alcohol, a crime under the country’s Islamic laws.
"We can say the same thing about every other social sin. It is like saying the sale of alcohol drinks should be made free and then people are free to drink or not. Is this a logical argument?" Khamenei posited, explaining that Islam has obliged the government to ensure the hijab code is preserved.
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