Women attending a pro-government rally in Tehran on May 13 [AP=Yonhap News]

Iran's government is promoting a new form of broad nationalism by embracing women who had been targeted for not wearing the hijab, the New York Times (NYT) reported on the 24th (local time).

According to the NYT, pro-government forces in Iran have recently posted videos online claiming that Iranians who were previously protesters have come to support the regime due to the war initiated by invasions from the United States and Israel.

Notably, a video produced and uploaded by pro-government filmmaker Hossein Shamaghdari features women without hijabs, who had been symbols of resistance against the Iranian regime.

A young woman, wearing a pink top and jeans with her curly hair falling over her shoulders, told the camera, "I was not a supporter of the Islamic Republic or the Supreme Leader, but recalling the start of the war, I am reconsidering my thoughts."

She added, "If the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia had not fought, we wouldn't be here today," praising the Iranian military that had previously cracked down on women without hijabs.

While the sincerity of these statements cannot be ascertained, there were few signs that the individuals in the video were coerced into their responses, and indeed many liberal Iranians have voiced opposition to U.S. and Israeli aggression, the NYT reported.

In Iran, wearing the hijab is still a legal obligation, and failure to comply can result in arrest or flogging.

However, many women are currently openly disregarding the mandatory hijab, making it common to see women without hijabs on the streets of Iran. Women without hijabs are also visible at pro-government rallies in Iran.

Women attending a pro-government rally in Tehran on the 12th [UPI=Yonhap News]

Last month, Iran's judiciary summoned the editor-in-chief of the state-run IRNA news agency for reporting a photo of a woman inside her home without a hijab.

However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian immediately defended the editor.

In a state television interview, President Pezeshkian said, "Did you (state media) not also show those very women you say should be arrested immediately holding pictures of the Supreme Leader?" He added, "We must acknowledge our differences and not view these differences as hostile."

Iran has survived a war with the U.S. and Israel and has gained a favorable position in ongoing peace negotiations. However, the public remains divided due to worsening economic hardship and the lingering effects of anti-government protests that shook the country just before the war.

To overcome these crises, the Iranian government is attempting to build a unifying image that extends beyond its core supporters by leveraging national anger against foreign aggression, the NYT observed.

An analysis suggests that facing crises from war and internal division, the Iranian government is now willing to overlook the differences among those who stand with it against the war.

Omid Memarian, an Iran expert at DAWN, a U.S.-based Middle East think tank, told the NYT, "For decades, the mandatory hijab has been one of the deepest fault lines between supporters and opponents of the Islamic Republic," adding, "After the war, Iran's main political and social fault lines have shifted."