Videos show Iranian women being snatched from the streets by other women under the cover of war with Israel
In Tehran’s Revolution Square, two women clad in long black burqas approach another woman, dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a hijab, or head scarf.
She tries to walk away, but one of the women in burqas grabs her by her sleeve and pulls her back, yanking her onto the ground. She is surrounded, wrapped in a blanket and bundled into a white van.
The scene is from one of many videos that have been circulating widely on social media in recent weeks, showing incidents of the latest crackdown by Iran’s so-called morality police.
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Source: Iran International
But this time, another enforcement group is more visibly working alongside the regime – and they are also women.
Sky News has analysed dozens of videos showing incidents of authorities’ renewed campaign targeting women for not properly wearing their hijab in accordance with the regime’s strict sharia law.
“Before this new wave of attacks started, I was planning to get rid of some of my longer clothes, because I don’t feel comfortable in them,” said Leila, an Iranian woman in her 20s living in Tehran. She spoke to Sky News on condition of anonymity.
“Now, I find myself wearing those even though I hate them, because I think I wouldn’t feel safe going out of my house wearing something that I could potentially lose my life over, or that I could get arrested for.”
‘Ambassadors of Kindness’
What’s notable about this recent spate of arrests is the increased presence of women in burqas, considered by Iranian leaders as the most modest form of dress, working with authorities.
They are part of a new enforcement group, dubbed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as “Ambassadors of Kindness”, who are helping enforce harsh regulations and silence dissent, one expert said.
Some young Iranians are calling them “bats”.
Leila was recently in the street when she spotted the police and stopped to cover her hair. She was then approached by a woman wearing a full hijab who told her she should “be afraid of God, not the police”.
“The truth is that when someone is wearing full hijab I am afraid that she might be with the police,” she said.
It’s not the first time the IRGC has employed women to help them. But Hadi Ghaemi, director of New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), says they’ve increased in number, as have the physical presence of morality police, white vans and police cars, which are used in the arrests of women on the street.
“They’re not armed, but they’re meant to go intimidate women by politely and kindly warning them. Then if the woman doesn’t listen, they call over security forces,” said Mr Ghaemi.
“What’s really scary is the way [authorities] are recommending citizens turn on citizens.”
War at home
As Iran launched its first ever attack on Israel, it intensified this less-noticed war at home.
Three days before it flew missiles into Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, said that women in the Islamic Republic must obey the dress code, regardless of their beliefs.
Then on Saturday 13 April, Tehran’s police chief Abbas Ali Mohammadian said people who ignored prior warnings faced legal action.
Read the latest on the Israel-Hamas war here
Not long after his statement was released, videos showing white police vans on the streets of cities across Iran went viral.
Iranian authorities say their Nour (Persian for ‘light’) campaign targets businesses and individuals who defy hijab law and responds to demands from devout citizens who are angry about the growing number of unveiled women in public.
“The level of brutality is very, very high right now,” said Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American journalist and activist.
“This time they are more emboldened. You can see it on their faces and see it from the huge number of them.”
In one video analysed by Sky News, at least six officers wearing yellow vests appear to be arresting one woman outside a train station in Tehran. She resists but fails to break free, and is ushered into a white van.
In another video posted the same day authorities announced their campaign, footage shows a cluster of white police cars, vans, and men in uniform in Tehran’s Valiasr Square.
Sky News was able to verify the precise location of the videos and the date each clip first appeared online.
Women and girls arrested
Morality police vans had largely vanished from the streets of Iran since last year, when widespread protests erupted across the country in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while being detained for improperly wearing her hijab.
Read more: Who was Mahsa Amini?
Mahsa Amini. Pic: Center for Human Rights in Iran
Police now appear to be back out in force, as a draconian ‘hijab and chastity’ bill is also currently making its way through the country’s parliament. One group of students reported new facial recognition software installed at a university dormitory.
But while street protests have died down, resistance to the regime’s hardline policies has not.
Iranian authorities released footage purporting to show members of the public being rude to, and lashing out at, morality police.
![A video from Iranian authorities, with the subtitle: 'The beating of the oppressed and powerful agents of Faraja [law enforcement] by the female beasts of the Women, Life, Freedom movement'](https://e3.365dm.com/24/04/768x432/skynews-iran-women_6537677.jpg?20240429173946)
A video from Iranian authorities, with the subtitle: ‘The beating of the oppressed and powerful agents of Faraja [law enforcement] by the female beasts of the Women, Life, Freedom movement.’
But this has backfired, said Ms Alinejad: “Now that video is going viral because people are so proud of the young women.”
Mina, another Iranian woman, had her car confiscated for three weeks last year because of her hijab. But she remains defiant.
Read more: Death sentence imposed on Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi
“We fight not only to have the right to choose coverage, but to have the right to choose a lifestyle,” she said.
Another video showed the arrest of a woman for allegedly not wearing her hijab in Haft Tir metro station in Tehran.
But a crowd surrounded her, chanting “free her” and calling the police “dishonoured.” Not long after the noise began, the police released the woman.
The ‘war against women’
As these videos went viral, so did talk about Iran’s “war on women”. Since 12 April there has been a steady rise in the number of times the Farsi for ‘mandatory hijab’ (حجاب اجباری) was used across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
On 11 April the phrase was used 585 times – but by 22 April it was mentioned in almost 10,000 posts, according to social listening platform Talkwalker.
The hashtag #IRGCTerrorists was also repeatedly used to accompany posts about discrimination against women. This peaked on 16 April, when more than 234,000 posts used this hashtag.
Farsi for ‘War against women’ (جنگ_علیه_زنان) then surged the following day and was used almost 30,000 times. Some 42% of these posts came from Iran itself.
What is next for the women of Iran?
“The anger among Iranians is much stronger and heavier than before,” Mina said.
“I don’t think they are going to give up that fight. The flame of revolution is still burning in Iran.”
Some women, she said, are willing to risk imprisonment: “They would rather get arrested but not live in humiliation and not live under these barbaric officers walking in the streets.”
Additional reporting by John Sparks, International correspondent, Sam Doak, OSINT producer
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Venezuela has accused the US of “piracy” after an oil tanker was seized off the country’s coast.
Donald Trump announced the operation had taken place during a meeting of business leaders at the White House, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a video of the operation, revealing the FBI, Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, and Department of Defence were involved.
She said the US forces “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.
Venezuela’s government said the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
Pics: X/@AGPamBondi
Ms Bondi said the seized vessel – believed to be a tanker named Skipper – has been sanctioned by the US for many years “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations”.
She did not name the vessel, what flag it sailed under, or exactly where the incident took place.
UK maritime risk management group Vanguard said that the tanker Skipper – which the US sanctioned for alleged involvement in Iranian oil trading under the name Adisa – was believed to be the target.
Trump offers ominous commentary
Without giving additional information on the operation, Mr Trump added during the White House meeting that “other things are happening”.
Later, Mr Trump said the tanker was “seized for a very good reason”, and when asked what will happen to the oil on board, he added: “Well, we keep it, I suppose.”
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US seizing oil tanker a ‘significant escalation’
How did we get here?
It marks another escalation from the US after months of pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The White House accuses Mr Maduro of presiding over a narcotrafficking operation in Venezuela, which he denies.
The US has escalated military deployments against the Latin American country over the last few months, with the president suggesting American forces could launch a land attack.
Speaking to Politico on Tuesday, Mr Trump declined to comment on whether US troops would enter Venezuela, but warned Mr Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
On 2 September, the White House posted on X that it had conducted a strike against so-called “narcoterrorists” shipping fentanyl to the US, without providing direct evidence of the alleged crime.
Sky News has verified that in the past four months, 23 boats have been targeted in 22 strikes, killing 87 people.
Read more: Is this what the beginning of a war looks like?
Venezuela: ‘It has always been about our oil’
The Maduro government describes America’s actions as a grab for Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are among the biggest in the world.
At a rally before a ruling-party-organised demonstration in Caracas on Wednesday, Mr Maduro did not address the seizure but told supporters Venezuela is “prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”.
Flanked by senior officials, he said that only the ruling party can “guarantee peace, stability, and the harmonious development of Venezuela, South America and the Caribbean”.
His government did issue a statement, accusing the US of “piracy” and “imperial abuses”.
Of the US campaign, it said: “It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
Read more on Venezuela:
Hegseth cites ‘fog of war’ defence
US aircraft carrier close to Venezuela
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Are US strikes on Venezuela about drugs or oil?
Is military confrontation possible?
Geoffrey Corn, director of the Centre for Military Law at Texas Tech University, told Sky’s Mark Austin on The World that Mr Trump’s remarks on land strikes “ostensibly” refer to drug cartel members.
Formerly a senior adviser to the US army on warfare law, Mr Corn added: “That could very easily provide the pretext for some confrontation between Venezuelan armed forces and US armed forces.
“And then that would open the door to a broader campaign to basically negate the power of the Venezuelan military.”
World
British soldier killed in Ukraine named – as Trump exchanges ‘strong words’ with Kyiv’s allies
Tributes have been paid to a British soldier killed in Ukraine, as the country’s allies prepare for talks before a crucial potential meeting with Donald Trump.
Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, has been named as the paratrooper who died in a “tragic accident” on Tuesday while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive capability away from the frontline.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said he joined the army in November 2015 and was “an exceptional soldier”.
Defence Secretary John Healey said he “served our country with distinction and professionalism” and “will be very deeply missed”.
He added: “George’s tragic death reminds us of the courage and commitment with which our outstanding armed forces serve every day to protect our nation.”
Coalition of the willing to meet
Britain has been one of Ukraine’s biggest backers since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and that support will again come into play on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will hold a virtual meeting with members of the self-styled coalition of the willing, after reports Kyiv has handed its revised peace deal proposal to US negotiators.
Mr Zelenskyy said the revised proposal has 20 points, after some “obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed”.
The original US draft proposal had 28 points, and was seen as favouring Russia.
Read more: Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
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Trump could ‘pull plug’ on Ukraine
Zelenskyy hopeful of progress
Ukraine has sought to change some key clauses, such as territorial issues and security guarantees, following talks with US and European negotiators.
In his nightly address on Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy said his country is also drafting two additional documents: the first regarding US security guarantees and the second on the economy and reconstruction.
He said Kyiv’s peace delegation held a “productive conversation” with the US earlier, and “discussed key issues for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions of reconstruction”.
He also revealed he discussed the possibility of holding elections with Ukraine’s parliament, but that holding elections under martial law was not easy.
Trump has ‘strong words’ with European leaders
It comes after Donald Trump used an interview with Politico to accuse Mr Zelenskyy of “using war” to avoid holding elections. The US president also claimed his Ukrainian counterpart had not read the original 28-point peace plan.
Mr Trump held a call with coalition of the willing members Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, ad Friedrich Merz on Wednesday, and said some “pretty strong words” were exchanged.
Earlier this week, he called Europe’s leaders “weak” and criticising them for failing to end the war.
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Why is Trump attacking European allies?
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Trump said Mr Zelenskyy was keen on a meeting involving him and European leaders this weekend, but warned his attendance will be “based on what they come back with”.
Today’s virtual meeting comes days after Sir Keir hosted Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Macron and Mr Merz in Downing Street.
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Zelenskyy meets leaders in Downing Street
The period of intense diplomacy comes as the fighting continues on the ground in Ukraine.
Its military says it’s still fending off a Russian assault launched on the key city of Pokrovsk, while energy infrastructure has been targeted by drones in southern Odesa.
World
Maria Corina Machado missed the ceremony, but the Nobel Peace Prize winner is heading to Oslo after ‘extraordinary’ day
The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado didn’t make it to Oslo in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person, in an extraordinary day shrouded in uncertainty over her whereabouts.
Machado isn’t the first Nobel Laureate unable to attend, but her journey to Oslo was unprecedented in the history of the prestigious prize.
Her departure from Venezuela, carried out amid heavy secrecy and probably with covert US help, was fraught with risk, but on Wednesday she was en route to Norway, where she is expected to land late in the evening.
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Sister’s ‘mixed emotions’ over Nobel prize
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro joins supporters marching to commemorate the Battle of Santa Ines. Pic: Reuters
Reports suggested she first travelled by boat to the Caribbean island of Curaçao before getting a private flight via the US. Two US F-16 jets were tracked in the skies close to Curaçao late Tuesday night.
In a phone call with members of the Nobel Institute, released just after she took off, Machado said she was “very sad” not to make it in person but “as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and children.”
In her absence, her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado, whom she hasn’t seen for almost two years, collected the award in Oslo City Hall and delivered the speech her mother wrote.
She spoke about 2,500 people who had been “kidnapped, disappeared or tortured” under Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s government and slammed the corruption that has brought Venezuela, once one of the world’s richest nations, to its knees.
“This prize carries profound meaning; it reminds the world that democracy is essential to peace.
“More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey – that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom.”
Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at an anti-Maduro protest in January. File pic: AP
Corina Perez de Machado, mother of Maria Corina Machado, at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. Pic: Reuters
To a standing ovation from an audience that included several South American leaders, Machado thanked the people of Norway and sent a message to her fellow countrymen and women, many of whom had travelled to Oslo from their homes outside Venezuela.
“Venezuela will breathe again,” her daughter read.
“We will open prison doors and watch thousands who were unjustly detained step into the warm sun, embraced at last by those who never stopped fighting for them.
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Are US strikes on Venezuela about drugs or oil?
“We will see our grandmothers settle children on their laps to tell them stories not of distant forefathers but of their own parents’ courage.
“We will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music. All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours.”
Ms Machado is the leader of a grassroots political movement fighting for democracy in Venezuela.
She was banned by Nicolas Maduro from running for election, so she rallied a campaign behind a little-known veteran diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.
She organised and trained more than a million volunteers to monitor elections in 2024 and collect data.
Those results, smuggled out of the country, were verified by independent experts and confirmed a landslide win for Gonzalez and Machado’s party.
Maduro refused to recognise the result and detained thousands of opponents.
More on US-Venezuela crisis:
US seizes Venezuelan oil tanker
Is this how a war starts?
Maduro ready for land strikes
Protests have failed to dislodge him, although US president Donald Trump has stationed a massive naval force off the coast and has warned the Venezuelan leader his “days are numbered”.
Mr Trump had lobbied publicly to win this year’s Nobel Prize himself, but rang Machado to congratulate her. Some members of Trump’s administration had threatened the Nobel committee if he didn’t win.
Edmundo Gonzalez, who was at the ceremony in Oslo, has since gone into exile in Spain, but Machado has remained in Venezuela, spending most of her time in hiding.
Her mother, sister and children have also travelled to Oslo to be reunited with her.
The decision to travel to Norway is fraught with risk.
Having successfully left the country, she faces a dangerous journey home again.
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