July 29, 2022
The largest shopping mall in Tehran has been shut down after it allowed a mixed-sex exercise event with many women attending in baseball caps, which do not meet the dress code.
The closure came after a video was posted on social media showing a huge exercise class in the Iran Mall Sports Complex.
Promotional videos from the event caused an uproar among socially conservative Iranians, who castigated the management on Twitter.
Ali Javadi, director general of sports for Tehran province, told the Fars news agency the Iran Mall would remain closed until the management committed to “obeying the law.” He claimed the Iran Mall had hosted the event without the permission or input of his office, adding: “Not even the coaches were approved by us to lead events in public.”
The Iran Mall released a statement saying the class had been held a month earlier and was an out-of-hours event. The mall also said it had “dealt with” and severed ties with the organizer, who was said to have disregarded “the sensitivities of the complex’s cultural management.”
