Basij and Plainclothes Agents Break Up Tehran Halloween Gathering as Provinces Seal Businesses

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Sanctions

Young Iranians who put on costumes in central Tehran on Friday evening, October 30, were chased off the street by members of the Basij, the paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and by plainclothes agents, according to an eyewitness account published by Iran International. At the same time, police, prosecutors and regulators in at least three provinces said they had sealed businesses and summoned organizers over Halloween events.

The crackdown came while Iran is under a US naval blockade and faces the threat of renewed war. It shows how the state’s security forces are still spending their energy on policing how young people dress, gather and celebrate. For the wider picture, see yesterday’s Iran daily briefing.

“It was like the protests”

Iran International reported that on the evening of October 30, young people in Halloween costumes gathered on Iranshahr Street near Tehran’s Artists Park (Park-e Honarmandan). Traffic police and local police first blocked the road. Then Basij members and plainclothes officers moved in to disperse the crowd, the outlet said. Families in the park were also told to leave.

“It was like the protests. They were running after people and shouting, ‘Disperse!'” an eyewitness told Iran International. The witness said they saw people being detained and pickup trucks at the scene. On another part of the street, the witness said, people were holding Islamic Republic flags.

Other information received by the outlet said several people were beaten and cafes in the area were forced to close. The number of people detained is not clear. These details come from a single source, Iran International’s eyewitness and reader accounts (Persian report), and have not been independently confirmed. Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the Tehran dispersal.

A Halloween ban, then closures

The street confrontation followed a nationwide ban. Iran’s Chamber of Guilds had prohibited Halloween ceremonies, celebrations and advertising in public places and businesses. It warned that cafes, restaurants and other venues that hosted events, or even promoted them, would face closure and prosecution. The chamber said the aim was to protect the country’s “cultural, religious and social values,” according to the Iranian outlet Rouydad24 and Iran International. Iran International noted that a similar ban was issued last year.

The provinces then followed through.

In Yazd, provincial prosecutor Mehdi Hassanpour said that after “public reports” about Halloween parties in Yazd and Ardakan, officials examined cases of women appearing without hijab and mixed-gender gatherings. The venue was sealed and the organizers were summoned for questioning, he said in remarks released by the provincial judiciary and carried by Mehr !Unverified claim, Mehr (Iranian state-aligned media) and Tasnim !Unverified claim, Tasnim (IRGC-affiliated). “The people’s expectation of the judiciary is to deal with such cases within the framework of laws and regulations,” Hassanpour said.

In Qazvin, Colonel Reza Esmailpour, head of the province’s public places police, told the state news agency IRNA that 19 businesses had been sealed for “promoting Western culture and lifestyle” !Unverified claim, IRNA (Iranian state media). He said the closures followed the posting of Halloween-related material and images. Judicial cases are being opened against the business operators and monitoring will continue, he said, according to the human rights news agency HRANA, which republished the IRNA report. He did not name the businesses.

In Isfahan province, BBC Persian reported that the Government Discretionary Punishments office in Baharestan County sealed a well-known cafe in the city of Golestan over an unauthorized Halloween event. The cultural heritage office in Aran va Bidgol said it would stop what it called “out of regulations” Halloween tours in the desert, BBC Persian added. Even so, BBC Persian said images on social media showed Halloween being celebrated across Tehran despite the ban and fears of renewed war.

A pattern of business closures in Iran

HRANA said its annual data recorded at least 191 closures of commercial and guild businesses in the Iranian year 1404 (March 2025 to March 2026). It said most were ordered for reasons unrelated to trade, such as serving customers during Ramadan, mandatory hijab rules and operating during religious mourning periods. HRANA said the figures reflect growing intervention by judicial and security bodies in commercial life. By TBR calculation from HRANA’s count, Qazvin’s 19 Halloween closures alone equal about 10% of that full-year total.

The Halloween closures also fit a recent run of cases against public events in Tehran. VOA Persian reported this week that the Fitex fitness exhibition was the third Tehran event in five weeks to be referred to prosecutors, after a mixed 10-kilometer race in Velayat Park and the Tehran Art Fair. In each case officials cited a “failure to observe legal and religious standards.” The Fitex case was the first of the three to lead to an arrest: a female sports blogger was detained, and the organizer faces a warrant, according to VOA Persian and IranWire.

Criticism from inside Iran

The crackdown has drawn criticism even from inside the country’s tightly controlled press. In a piece headlined “The government’s battle with the pumpkin,” Rouydad24 writer Maziar Vakili asked, “What is the benefit of a security crackdown on people’s lifestyles?”

“Despite years of threats, warnings and business closures, this celebration remains popular among the younger generation,” the piece said. It argued that authorities have spent years confronting such events without asking why young Iranians are drawn to them. It also said young people, as citizens, “have the right to choose their own entertainment.”

Officials frame the issue differently. The Chamber of Guilds cites the defense of national “values,” and the Qazvin police describe the closures as a fight against “Western culture.” Rouydad24 noted that principlist outlets such as Tasnim, a news agency affiliated with the IRGC, present Halloween as a sign of Western cultural influence over Iran’s young “Generation Z.”

Why the Tehran Halloween crackdown matters

The use of the Basij against people in costumes is the latest example of the IRGC’s paramilitary arm being deployed to police private life. The Basij is also central to the state’s case against January’s protesters: HRANA reported this week that a Tehran court sentenced protester Shahab Zohdi to death for a second time in a case tied to a fire at a Basij base. Four of his co-defendants were executed in April, according to HRANA. See also our report on the IRGC, executions and Iranian public opinion.

The government says it is enforcing the law and public morals. The record from Friday night, as reported, includes roads blocked, families ordered out of a park, cafes shut and organizers summoned in at least three provinces. It comes as the rial trades near record lows of about 2.7 million to the dollar on the open market, according to the Bonbast tracker, and as the country waits to learn whether US strikes will resume. Follow daily coverage on our Iran news hub.

Sources

Sourcing note: The Tehran dispersal, beatings and arrests are single-source (Iran International) and unverified. Mehr, Tasnim and IRNA are Iranian state or state-affiliated media and are cited only as the authorities’ account. Bonbast rates are indicative open-market figures.

• Iran International, “Halloween gathering in Tehran ends in arrests and police crackdown,” Oct. 31, 2026 (single-source on beatings and arrests): www.iranintl.com
• BBC Persian, “Halloween celebrated despite the ban; Golestan cafe sealed; desert tours halted,” Oct. 30, 2026: www.bbc.com
• HRANA (Persian), “19 businesses in Qazvin sealed over Halloween-related posts (republishing IRNA),” Oct. 31, 2026: www.hra-news.org
• Mehr News Agency (state-aligned), “Yazd prosecutor on Halloween organizers summoned,” Oct. 31, 2026: www.mehrnews.com
• Rouydad24, “The government’s battle with the pumpkin,” Oct. 30, 2026: www.rouydad24.ir
• VOA Persian, “Female sports blogger detained, arrest warrant issued for Fitex organizer,” Oct. 2026: ir.voanews.com
• HRANA, “Executions and death sentences, including Shahab Zohdi,” Oct. 30, 2026: www.en-hrana.org

Additional sources

• Iran International (Persian), “Tehran Halloween dispersal report,” Oct. 31, 2026: www.iranintl.com
• Tasnim News Agency (IRGC-affiliated), “Yazd and Ardakan organizers summoned,” Oct. 31, 2026: www.tasnimnews.ir
• IranWire, “Female Sports Blogger Arrested Over Fitex Tehran Fitness Exhibition,” Oct. 2026: iranwire.com
• Bonbast, “Open-market currency rates (indicative tracker),” Oct. 31, 2026: www.bonbast.com