Girls walking in front of walls of the former US embassy on Taleghani street, Tehran. Picture by Kamyar Adl / Flickr.com. Some rights reserved (CC BY 2.0).The Iranian government is not determined enough to implement change, nor does it have the authority and resources to embrace the reforms people are demanding. Meanwhile, in restaurants, coffee shops, streets, schools, newspapers and sometimes even on state TV, people are discussing and talking about reform.
People ask valid questions that rarely find viable answers by those who are supposed to find answers: will women, comprising half of Iran's population, be finally officially permitted to watch football matches live in stadiums? Will the debate on the necessity or appropriateness of "compulsory veil" come to an end, as there's no "solution" for what seems to be a "social dilemma" rather than a "problem" or as what some religious figures say, a "moral crisis" being injected from the overseas to pollute the pious minds? Will Iranian males, after graduating with their bachelors, refrain from harming themselves physically, i.e. pulling out their healthy teeth, or paying absence fines in order to avoid being enlisted for compulsory military service? Will Iranian sports be depoliticized with Iranian wrestlers, sportswomen, chess-players and other athletes stop losing international opportunities or being penalised due to their voluntary or involuntary decisions in refusing to face Israeli opponents?
Iran is an Islamic republic by definition but a theocracy in action
