TEHRAN: Women drivers in Iran’s capital could have their cars impounded by police if they are caught driving with a poorly fixed veil or without their heads covered, a police chief said on Wednesday.

The head of Tehran’s traffic police, General Teymour Hosseini, said any woman who had her car seized would need to obtain a court order before getting it back. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, wearing a veil in public has been mandatory for all women in Iran.

But recent decades have seen a loosening of the rules governing female dress and many women in Tehran dress in a way that is far removed from the strict clothing regulations in other observant Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia.