Khamenei's man at Kayhan: going easy on hijab rules is "siding with the enemy in the war"

Hossein Shariatmadari, the supreme leader's representative at the hardline Kayhan newspaper, wrote Sunday that failing to enforce Iran's mandatory hijab law amounts to "unwittingly siding with the enemy in the war," Iran International reported.

In his column, Shariatmadari claimed "indisputable documents" show the hijab issue is one of the enemy's tools in a coming war. In regime language, "the enemy" means the United States and Israel.

He went after officials who say this is the wrong moment to crack down on women because Iran is at war. He called that view naive or suspiciously in line with the enemy's plans, and accused those officials of using the war as cover for not acting against women who refuse to cover their hair.

The column lands days after shroud-wearing hardliners rallied outside the Revolutionary Guards headquarters, accusing the military of defying Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a sign of how hard the regime's hardline camp is pushing on the home front as the war drags on.