Iranian Prosecutors Ban Dog Walking in Public Spaces

Prosecutors in two Iranian provinces have banned dog walking in public areas.

Abbas Najafi, the prosecutor of Hamadan Province, announced on Tuesday that walking dogs in urban areas, parks, public places, and even in private vehicles is now prohibited.

Police have been instructed to carry out the “systematic and physical confiscation” of vehicles transporting dogs.

Najafi described dog walking as a “violation of public rights” and “a threat to citizens’ comfort and peace,” announcing that legal action would be taken against individuals who appear in public with pets.

He claimed the practice contradicts “religious and social values” and poses “a threat to public health.”

Simultaneously, the Urmia Prosecutor’s Office issued similar directives, banning dog walking across West Azerbaijan Province.

The order prohibits the presence of dogs in parks, on sidewalks, in public places, and in vehicles, warning that violators will face judicial consequences.

Under the new regulations, traffic police and law enforcement agencies are required to confiscate vehicles carrying dogs and crack down on unlicensed veterinary clinics.

Cyber police have been tasked with targeting online platforms that facilitate dog adoptions.

Urmia’s municipality has been directed to install signage in public spaces announcing the dog-walking ban.

Judicial authorities claim the measures respond to “public demands,” though many citizens view them as violations of pet owners' basic rights.

These bans follow similar policies recently enacted in Tehran, Isfahan, Qazvin, and other cities, signaling an expanding judicial crackdown on pet ownership in urban areas.

In recent years, judicial and law enforcement bodies in the Islamic Republic have repeatedly imposed extra-legal restrictions, aiming to control citizens’ private lives under the pretext of protecting “Islamic values” and ensuring “society’s psychological security.”

The crackdown comes despite pet ownership, especially of dogs and cats, becoming a normalized and widely accepted part of life in Iran’s major cities.

However, the Islamic Republic continues its efforts to suppress and prevent the normalization of this lifestyle through increasingly repressive measures.