Iranian officials have expanded a ban on dog walking to multiple cities across the country, citing public order, health and safety concerns.
The ban echoes a 2019 police order which barred walking dogs in Tehran, and has been expanded to at least 18 other cities in the past week, according to local media.
This included Isfahan in the centre and Kerman in the south.
Iranians sit with their dog in a park in Tehran. (AFP: Atta Kenare)
Owning and walking dogs has been a contentious issue in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though there is no law completely banning dog ownership.
Many religious scholars consider petting dogs or coming into contact with their saliva as “najis” — ritually impure.
Some officials view them as a symbol of Western cultural influence.
Enforcement of ban largely inconsistent
Local authorities have periodically introduced bans on walking dogs in public spaces or carrying them in vehicles as part of a wider campaign to discourage their ownership.
However, enforcing the restrictions has been largely inconsistent, with many owners continuing to walk their dogs in Tehran and elsewhere across the country.
An Iranian arrives with his dogs on the back of his motorcycle in a park in Tehran. (AFP: Atta Kenare)
On Sunday, local time, the reformist Etemad newspaper quoted an official from Ilam city as saying that “legal action will be taken against violators”, without elaborating.
The day before, the state newspaper Iran said the latest measures were aimed at “maintaining public order, ensuring safety and protecting public health”.
“Dog walking is a threat to public health, peace and comfort,” Abbas Najafi, prosecutor of the western city of Hamedan, was quoted as saying.
Owning and walking dogs has been a contentious issue in Iran. (AFP: Atta Kenare)
In 2021, about 75 lawmakers condemned pet ownership as a “destructive social problem”, saying it could “gradually change the Iranian and Islamic way of life”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously said that keeping dogs for reasons other than herding, hunting and guarding is “reprehensible”.
“If this practise resembles that of non-Muslims, promotes their culture or causes harm and disturbance to neighbours, it is deemed forbidden,” he said, according to local media.
AFP
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