A former conservative presidential candidate has said that Iranians' appearance, especially veiling by women, represents their views toward the government. He called for less police confrontation and further study of the possible causes of the dress issue, such as poor economic conditions.

“During the monarchy, if a youth wanted to fight against the government, with the flag of Islam raised, he would change his appearance,” said Expediency Council member and former parliament speaker Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri at a clergy meeting in Khuzestan province. He described the fashion during the early years of the Iranian revolution as, “Boys would wear T-shirts that had a cleric’s collar, with a beard, and the girls would also go to public places such as universities with a complete veil or chador.”

Nategh Nouri, who lost to Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 presidential elections, continued, “And now, also, when a youth wants to behave in a way [that shows] opposition to the government, or in a way wants to protest the administration or government, they show their protest by changing their appearance or with bad veiling.”

Rather than confronting the issue of bad veiling by only addressing violations, Nategh Nouri called for a study of the reasons behind poor veiling. He called it a "mistake" that the police force is directly involved in this issue, taking women who are poorly veiled into custody.