Why Iran is making life difficult for dog owners
Walking or driving with canine friends is now banned in Tehran

Iran’s capital city has banned citizens from walking their dogs, as part of a long-running nationwide campaign against dog ownership.
Announcing the move, police chief Hossein Rahimi said that driving with a dog in the car was also being outlawed.
“We have received permission from the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office and will take measures against people walking dogs in public spaces, such as parks,” Rahimi said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
These measures “could include confiscation and fines”, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Rahimi told Iran’s state-run news agency Young Journalists Club that the ban was being introduced in response to dogs “creating fear and anxiety” among members of the public.
Dog ownership has been a contentious issue in the Middle Eastern nation since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, reports the BBC.
In recent decades, the authorities have carried out “periodic crackdowns” on people who keep them as pets, according to Time. “Police have confiscated dogs from their owners right off the street; and state media has lectured Iranians on the diseases spread by canines,” the magazine reports.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
In 2010, Reuters reported that a senior Iranian cleric had issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that dogs were “unclean” and not to be kept as pets.
“Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West,” Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. “There are lots of people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.”
Yet despite such crackdowns, “especially among Tehran’s middle class, dog lovers persist”, says CNN.
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocrat
Feature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?
Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlock
Feature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
In the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdown
IN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?
Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieve
IN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctions
The Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official says
Speed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
IAEA: Iran could enrich uranium 'within months'
Speed Read The chief United Nations nuclear inspector, Rafael Grossi, says Iran could be enriching uranium again soon