Criminalizing insult to the flag: the Islamic Republic's fear of the Lion and Sun emblem

The Islamic Republic's judiciary is drafting a bill that would declare any "insult" to the Islamic Republic's flag a separate crime. Ali Kazemi, the judiciary's spokesman, said on Tuesday, 14 October 2026, that the bill is being written with the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice and in implementation of Article 18 of the flag and anthem regulations. Criminalizing insult to the flag has been put on the agenda at a time when, in recent years, Iranians' embrace of national symbols, above all the Lion and Sun flag, has visibly grown.

According to the judiciary's spokesman, such conduct has so far been prosecuted under charges such as "propaganda against the system" and "insulting the sacred", and carries a heavier punishment if it is "organized". To justify the bill he pointed to disrespect shown to the government's flag during the recent wars. It is still unclear which acts would count as "insult", what punishment is envisaged and when the bill will go to parliament.

Why the government's flag needs a new law

Since the start of the uprising of December 2025–January 2026 and Iran's national revolution, the three-color Lion and Sun flag has become the main symbol of protesters on Iran's streets and at gatherings of Iranians around the world. In February–March 1979 the founder of the Islamic Republic called this emblem "tyrannical" (taghuti) and ordered it removed from all offices.

Nevertheless, in recent months the government has tried to present the emblem as its own: on 8 February 2026, Ali-Akbar Salehi, the former foreign minister, said the Lion and Sun "belongs to the Islamic Republic"; the claim met with a broad backlash from users, and many saw it as an attempt to appropriate national symbols and a sign of the government's fear.

The flag the people have chosen

The new bill continues a policy in which every sign of national identity outside the government's framework is treated as a threat. Citizens had previously been arrested for displaying the Lion and Sun flag, and the government has repeatedly used labeling of critics to silence them. The new criminalization widens the scope of censorship and the suppression of national symbols.

The Islamic Republic wants to buy, by law, respect for a flag that the people have cast aside.