Paris, April 28 -- Images of bareheaded women sipping coffee in cafes in Tehran, in apparent defiance of the Islamic republic's strict dress rule, have stirred interest outside Iran -- but for Elnaz, 32, it is no breakthrough. "It is not at all a sign of any change in the government in my opinion. Because no achievement has been made regarding women's rights," said Elnaz, a painter in Tehran, who like other women in the capital and elsewhere contacted by AFP in Paris asked that her full name not be published. "Under the surface, in reality, no real change has taken place in people's freedom, especially when it comes to women's basic rights," she said. Wearing the headscarf in public has been mandatory for women since shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in what was long seen as an ideological pillar of the clerical leadership. But enforcement of the rule appears to have slackened, at least in parts of Tehran and other cities. The trend began following the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested in Tehran for allegedly ignoring the dress code. It continued through the June 2025 war with Israel, January protests sparked by the cost of living and now the war against the US and Israel that is on hold with a ceasefire. There is little sign of the dreaded white patrol vans of the so-called morality police that used to lurk in squares and on street corners to haul in women deemed to have violated the rules. But the picture remains mixed and the situation evolving, with wearing hijab still a matter of choice for some women. It is not uncommon even in more liberal areas of Tehran to see women with and without the headscarf walking together. In some areas the change has been startling, with scenes of women casually strolling without a headscarf that would have been unthinkable half a decade ago. "I'm happy for all of them, because until just three years ago this was only a dream," said Zahra, 57, a housewife from Isfahan in central Iran. "My youth has passed and I didn't get to have this experience; now I don't wear it anymore, but I wish I could have experienced these days when I was young." But women can still be summoned by authorities for not wearing hijab....