Brave Iranian women are openly defying the theocratic country’s oppressive hijab law — despite the risks following the regime’s deadly protest crackdown.

After Iran’s security forces killed at least 7,000 protesters in January, according to human rights groups, many women and girls have continued to stand in defiance of the regime by breaking the country’s strict dress code.

Images out of Tehran last week show women of all ages out and about in casual clothes, including one woman sporting an “I Love NY” T-shirt.

Another woman was even spotted wearing a red T-shirt with an American flag on it, with many of the women opting for jeans over traditional dresses.

While many of the people breaking tradition were young women, older women were also pictured wearing more urban-casual outfits in the city streets.

The photos paint a picture of a modern, chic Tehran compared to the Islamist regime’s oppressive image.

“I think that if I am going to live the final seconds of my life, I want to live it the way I want,” Mahyar Yeganeh, 16, told CBC News while out without any headscarves in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.

“And this is connected to the courage of Iranian women still confronting a dictatorial government by any means,” she added.

Iran’s law dictates that all women and girls over the age of 12 must cover their hair with hijabs and wear traditional clothes following the 1979 revolution.

The strict law gained international attention following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in police custody after being arrested for improperly wearing her hijab.

Since then, more and more women have been seen in public without the head covers, undeterred by the deadly crackdowns in 2022 or in January, which still has another 11,000 cases still under investigation.

The streets of Tehran and other large cities have seen a clear transformation, with women out and about in casual clothes and riding scooters and vespas.

“People decided not to wear the hijab anymore and kind of stand against it,” one woman told CBC of the movement in solidarity with the slain protesters.

Some women have speculated that Iran is purposefully giving people free reign for now to avoid another mass protest inside the nation as it deals with the current war with the US and Israel.

“They don’t have time to care about women who wear the hijab,” one woman told the outlet.

“They let us go free so we won’t protest,” another said. “They don’t want people to go to the street. They don’t want people to raise their voices.”  

Still, the Islamic republic has other means to crackdown on those who break the hijab law. Rather than arrest people on the spot, the regime has used traffic cameras in recent years to identify the women and send them fines in the mail.

There’s fears that the current regime, which is believed to be run by hardliners with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, will crack down on women once again once the war settles.

“I’m just wearing the scarf around my neck to stay on the safe side if anything happens,” one older woman commented.