Below is the translation from French to English of a France 24 article dated  

While the uprising is becoming more intensified after a call for a three days strike in Iran, the general prosecutor surprised everyone on saturday by announcing that the morality police responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini will be dismantled. However what is perceived as a backtracking of the regime should be viewed with precaution. 

Questioned after a speech in the religious town of Qom, the general prosecutor of Iran, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, surprised everyone, when his words were relayed on Saturday 3^rd of December by the Iranian press agency Isna: It seemed to confirm that the morality police, created in 2006 and responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini was dismantled. 

“The morality police has nothing to do with the judiciary, and has been abolished by the very people who created it” he said. “But of course the Judiciary will continue to control the social behaviors” he continued.

Two days later, things appear less clear. For the historian Jonathan Piron specialized on Iran, the government is on the contrary as resolute as ever. “The morality police has not been abolished. The comments of the general prosecutor were ambiguous and wrongly interpreted.” The compulsory dress code in Iran is not put into question by the authorities and the government has not made the slightest concession and pursues in suppressing dissent.

“The hijab is in the DNA of the regime”

Washington and Berlin expressed on Monday that they have no illusion on the situation of women in Iran, as at least 500 people have been executed since the beginning of the uprising and 18000 imprisoned.

Overturning the mandatory veil which is one of the pillars of the regime since 1983 seems impossible. “The regime cannot come back on the forceful wearing of the veil, observes David Rigoulet-Roze a researcher at Iris. To accept to reconsider this obligation would be a denial of what they stand for. The hijab is really in the DNA of the regime. From this point of view the regime is without doubt unreformable because they cannot change their identity. 

The political analyst fears that violence can only increase as more and more women are removing their veil. According to the Persian language network Radio Farda the CEO of a chain of shops was summoned on Monday for having accepted to serve clients without the headscarf. An attraction park was shut down in Tehran because it’s employees were not wearing the headscarf. “They will no more put on the veil and would rather risk their lives says David Rigoulet-Roze. It is possible that this is a turning point all the more that paradoxically women who still wish to wear the veil support those who don’t because of they support the freedom of choice.”

The discontent appears to be generalized in Iran, where images showing women tearing down their veil and shouting anti-regime slogans calling to oust the supreme leader as well as the government. On Monday evening demonstrators could be seen in Tehran and other cities across the country according to the BBC.

“The revolution is on the march”

In this context, the announcement of the suppression of the morality police is a diversion by the government on the eve of the call for a national strike of three days. “This will eventually be a ‘trial balloon”, which has been announced in an ambivalent and sibylline manner. Says David Rigoulet-Roze. Because of the timing, this takes place before the three-day strike for the beginning of the week announced on social media. It is still to be seen if this announcement will unplug the dynamic of this movement.

Regardless this announcement has not diminished the determination of the protestors next Monday. The first day of strike was followed by merchants and universities in several towns of the country like Chahinchahr next to Isfahan where the uprising is very present.

Interestingly, the workers are also going on strike like in the petrochemical factory is Mahchahr. In 1978, a powerful strike brought down the Shah’s regime.

According to Radio Farda five hundred workers of the petrochemical factory of Mahshahe apparently went of strike calling for a salary increase. According to the Franco-Iranian sociologist Azadeh Kian, the iranian government is confronted by an “upcoming revolution”.

“The merchants close to the regime have largely followed the strikes on Monday says Kian, including workers of the petrochemical factory, students and teachers … We can see the movement is spreading and thriving. »

Despite its magnitude and duration, the movement still needs a “turning point” for it to become a truly revolutionary uprising. “The youth is not afraid anymore contrary to the previous generation. The fear has changed sides and supported by parents and grandparents observes David Rigoulet-Roze. The situation is totally unique even if it is still looking for a “convergence of views” across the spectrum of society. The turning point has not yet been achieved but it is not far.”