A video from Iran showing a woman confronting a cleric at an airport in Mehrabad is going viral on social media. In the clip, shared on X by user Navid Mohebbi, the woman, seen without a hijab, angrily removes the cleric’s turban and places it on her head like a scarf during the altercation. “So you have honour now?” she says to the clerk, before searching for her husband and asking “What did you do to my husband?” The exact date and cause of the initial confrontation is unclear.
Sharing the video on X, Mr Mohebbi wrote, “Brave Iranian Woman Confronts A Mullah in Iran. Mehrabad Airport: A woman without a hijab angrily grabs a mullah’s turban and wraps it around her own head. It appears the mullah had previously argued with her”.
Take a look at the video below:
📍Brave Iranian Woman Confronts A Mullah in Iran.
▶️ Mehrabad Airport: A woman without a hijab angrily grabs a mullah’s turban and wraps it around her own head. It appears the mullah had previously argued with her. pic.twitter.com/MLssxAEauN
— Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی (@navidmohebbi) January 6, 2025
According to Iran International, the woman confronted the cleric for allegedly harassing her about not wearing a hijab. However, Mashregh News, a media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that the incident was unrelated to hijab. The outlet also claimed that the woman had “psychological problems”. She was detained briefly but later released “with the consent of the complainants”.
However, social media users disputed Mashregh News’s explanation. One user praised the woman’s “transformation of the turban into a mandatory scarf” as an innovative form of resistance, as per Iran International. “That is a lady who has just had enough. You cannot scare people who reach that point. Courage and its shadow of defiance wins out in the end,” wrote another.
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Some social media users also praised the woman’s actions. “Brave young Iranian woman teaches Iranian cleric a lesson in modesty…A Shiite cleric admonished a young Iranian woman for not wearing a hijab as required at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran…. She didn’t think much of it, approached him, resolutely removed his turban, and turned it,” wrote one user.
“At Mehrabad Airport, a young woman faces off against a cleric using his turban as a tool to harass and enforce the mandatory hijab. With a powerful gesture, she removes his turban and wears it herself, defying both his authority and the regime’s oppressive rules. A single act, yet it speaks volumes,” expressed another.