Iran's headquarters for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, a powerful religious organisation responsible for defining regulations relating to the hijab and Islamic attitudes in Iran, has said it will not ease laws on the wearing of the clothing despite protests calling for it to no longer be obligatory

In an interview with Khabar Online, Ali Khan Mohammadi, the organisation's spokesman, said: "In our constitution, removing the hijab is a crime, and [our] organisation will not step back from implementing the [wearing of the] hijab"

Commenting on mass protests by Iranians against the wearing of the hijab, Khan Mohammadi said that new methods would soon be deployed to implement hijab regulations

"The enemy is attempting to bring down the headscarf, which is a symbol [of Sharia law]," he was quoted as saying

"If they bring down this symbol, then nudity and other things will come afterwards

"Officials have been rethinking the lack of hijab and taken that as a serious matter

"This is contrary to what people think, that now there is freedom regarding the hijab and they can remove their headscarves," he concluded