Iran: A Narrow Escape

Scanning the New York Times “International” section this morning I came across the following item:

Iran: Lawmakers Debate Women's Clothing

Parliament is debating a bill that would discourage women from wearing Western clothing, increase taxes on imported clothes and finance an advertising campaign to encourage citizens to wear Islamic-style garments. The measure provoked concern outside Iran after a Canadian newspaper, National Post, quoting "Iranian expatriates living in Canada," reported yesterday that it included provisions that would require Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims to wear colored cloth markers that would identify them. But in Tehran, Emad Afroogh, the legislator who sponsored the bill and is chairman of Parliament's Cultural Committee, said that the Canadian report was untrue and that the measure sought only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. Another lawmaker, Morris Motamed, a Jew, also said the Canadian report was false.

Naturally, I breathed a sigh of relief that the measure only seeks “to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions.” It would be truly offensive to think that men might also be subject to the Mullahs’ whims. I’m glad the international press is on top of things and has ended the original "concern outside of Iran."