The presidents of Russia and Iran have met on the sidelines of a conference in Central Asia, as both countries seek to build a closer partnership. President Vladimir Putin said ties with Tehran were a "priority."
The presidents of Russia and Iran have met on the sidelines of a conference in Central Asia, as both countries seek to build a closer partnership. President Vladimir Putin said ties with Tehran were a "priority."
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday, as their two countries form a burgeoning alliance against the West.
The meeting comes with Tehran accused of supplying weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine and as concerns grow over escalating attacks between Israel and Iran.
Iran banned the tie for men after the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed monarch as a symbol of Western culture. Although it has made a slow comeback since, government officials and most Iranian men continue to shun the cravat.
Iran's Shiite clerics who came to power in 1979 banned the tie because, in their eyes, it was un-Islamic, a sign of decadence, a symbol of the cross and the quintessence of Western dress imposed by the shah, said one trader who asked not to be identified.
After vanishing for decades, ties reappeared in some shop windows during the era of reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.
Today, government ministers, senior civil servants and heads of state-owned companies don't wear ties with their suits and opt for shirts with buttoned, open or Mao collars.
Lawyer Masoud Molapanah said "wearing a tie is certainly not a crime" under the constitution or Islamic sharia law. "But there are dress restrictions in certain places such as on television."
I feel so conflicted about ties. I like them, I have several cool ones. I wear it with a suit on the rare occasions I wear a suit. But at its core the tie is truly a symbol of capitalist dominance, a semi-literal noose you choose to put around your neck.