Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, has vowed to ensure morality police will no longer “bother” women on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.  

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died in police custody on Sept 16 2022 after morality police arrested her for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict female dress code in Tehran. 

Her death triggered months-long protests in which thousands of demonstrators were detained and hundreds killed. 

“The morality police were not supposed to confront [women]. I will follow up so they don’t bother [them],” Mr Pezeshkian said on Monday during his first press conference since taking office in July. 

He replaced the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

Mr Pezeshkian promised to “fully” oppose police patrols enforcing mandatory hijab headscarves throughout his election campaign, and ease long-standing internet restrictions.  

Iran has tightly controlled internet use over the years and restricted popular social media platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

Stricter controls were enforced in 2019 following protests against fuel price hikes and demonstrations triggered by Amini’s death.

On Monday, Mr Pezeshkian confirmed his government was working to ease social media restrictions, and touched on Iran’s fraught relations with the United States.

“We do not want to fight with America if it respects our rights,” he said.

“It is not us who are hostile [to the Americans]. We have not built military bases around their country.”

Iran and the US have had no diplomatic relations since 1980 after the Islamic Revolution toppled Western-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country’s last monarch. 

A landmark deal between Iran and world powers granted the country sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear programme. 

However, the agreement collapsed and tensions reignited after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran the following year.