Iranian media outlets that have covered the acid attacks on women in the city of Esfahan have been criticized for and warned about associating the crimes with "vice" groups enforcing Islamic values. While Iranian authorities have attempted to address concerns about the attacks, they have also warned domestic media outlets over their coverage.
The weekly 9 Dey, affiliated with conservative parliamentarian Hamid Rasaei, reported that those “who have a problem with the Islamic command ‘enjoining good and forbidding wrong’” are using the acid attacks as an “excuse.” The article blamed the BBC, which it referred to as the “news agency of the old imperial fox,” for being the first to suggest that the acid attacks were related to the enforcement of veiling by vigilantes.
