President Massoud Pezeshkian, who has a reformist orientation, is explicitly criticising a law that tightens controls and penalties for women who do not wear the veil properly, supported by parliament and the Guardian Council

Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance to inform on women refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf in public; according to latest UN report, state-sponsored vigilantism aims at enlisting businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance

Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who had been convicted for reporting on Mahsa Amini's case, were pardoned; freed on bail after 17 months' imprisonment last January, their sentences were reduced on appeal in August

A new ballistic missile, capable of travelling 1.700 kilometres, was unveiled at a ceremony in Tehran attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian