After 46 years of insisting on the obligation for women to wear the hijab, the Islamic Republic of Iran has suspended the order at the request of the President. Wearing the hijab is now optional, and no fines or penalties will be imposed on those who choose not to wear it. The fate of the 100,000 individuals who monitored its enforcement remains uncertain.
This decision marks a rational and radical shift, welcomed after years of protests, loss of life and property, and billions of working hours wasted on trivial matters, at the expense of the many pressing problems facing the country.
In a meeting with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, who has gained greater political influence than his predecessors, declared his rejection of the principle of imposing the hijab. Pezeshkian called for dialogue and the avoidance of violence or coercion, citing his personal experience at home and his refusal to force his daughter to do anything against her will. Although an increasing number of Iranian women are now appearing in public without the hijab, the law could be reinstated at any time, as conservative forces continue to push for its return.
Al-Qabas newspaper received a response from the Iranian Embassy regarding what I previously reported in my article titled “The good news of KD 1.5” (published two weeks ago). The article mentioned the poisoning of two individuals in Gulf countries and the claim that this resulted from drinking mineral water produced by an Iranian factory. In its response, the Iranian Embassy stated that preliminary investigations revealed the incident to be a criminal matter arising from personal disputes, indicating that the water had been deliberately poisoned by an individual. I would like to express my gratitude to the embassy for its kind response and clarification, and we are even more appreciative of its acknowledgment of the veracity of the poisoning incident.
Therefore, what I wrote was not an “allegation” but a factual account, the result of drinking contaminated water. As for what later emerged, according to the embassy’s claim that the incident was intentional and stemmed from “personal differences,” I was unaware of this at the time I wrote the article. In any case, this should not alter the substance of the matter, particularly since, in the same article, we warned against the consumption of products from several countries, including France. As for the response’s assertion that “Iranian products” have been present in the region’s markets for decades, this is true.
My wife, who dislikes any non-Lebanese fruits or vegetables, does not hesitate to choose Iranian products instead, given their quality and taste, which are very similar to Lebanese products, even though I have recently begun to express some doubts about the methods used in their cultivation and irrigation.
Regarding the embassy’s claim that Iranian products are subject to strict health inspections and monitoring, this is likely true, although we should avoid exaggeration in asserting that low-quality goods can't originate from Iran. I would like to remind the Iranian Embassy that the primary goal of any producer or farmer is profit, which can sometimes lead some to resort to illegal practices. If the word “impossible” were accurate, the poisoning incident would not have occurred. The article I wrote was not about the poor quality of Iranian products, but rather about the majority of products we receive from certain countries, whose cultivation, irrigation, and cleaning methods remain unknown to us.
If I were an official at the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition, I would conduct inspection visits to some of the countries from which we import food, particularly fresh produce, and visit livestock and poultry farms, because prevention is better than cure. If I were an official at the Iranian Embassy, especially during these times, I would invite several media professionals and members of the Kuwaiti-Iranian Friendship Society to visit Iran and witness firsthand its many wonderful aspects.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
