But as the saying goes: in Iran, nothing is merely local. The images quickly spread, debates ignited, and the authorities acted fast.
Arrests and Legal Repercussions
On Saturday, the judiciary announced that two organisers had been arrested under warrants. One of them is an official from the Kish free-zone administration; the other works for the private company that organised the marathon.
The local public prosecutor — speaking via the judicial news-site Mizan Online — declared that despite earlier warnings, the event was organized in a way that “violated public decency.” Accordingly, a criminal case has been filed against those responsible for the event.
Conservative-aligned media outlets such as Tasnim News Agency and Fars News Agency roundly condemned the marathon as an act of indecency, a public affront to the Islamic values that the revolution enshrined after 1979.
The reaction from state authorities was swift — signaling that the race was interpreted not as an innocuous sporting event, but as a challenge to the regime’s control over social norms.
