The nation's Deputy Sports Minister Abdolhamid Ahmadi said women and families will be allowed to watch some competitions but not all, with some matches and stadiums still to be off-limits, as it would "depend on the type of sport".

"Of course, in some areas of sport, families are not interested in attending nor is there a possibility for them to attend," he told the Islamic Republic News Agency.

The move, which is expected to be implemented before the end of the current Iranian calendar year in March 2016, looks set to ease the rule that has been in place since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

According to the Government, the restrictions were introduced to protect women from the indecent behaviour of male fans and not as a means of keeping crowds of unrelated men and women from mixing in public.

The move comes after Iran attracted widespread condemnation for its arrest of a British-Iranian woman for watching a volleyball match in Iran last year.

Ghoncheh Ghavami was given a year's jail sentence after she attended an FIVB World League match against Italy in Tehran in June ©Change.org


Ghoncheh Ghavami was given a year's jail sentence for "propagating against the ruling system" after she attended an International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World League match against Italy in Tehran in June.

She was later released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison on bail in November until her court appeal, following a series of hunger strikes and a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of people, and has since had all charges against her dropped.

Her arrest saw Iran being stripped of the right to stage this year's FIVB Boys' Under-19 World Championships, with Argentina taking over as host, and volleyball's world governing body revealed that it would not award any further events to the country until the ban is lifted.

Iran is still set to host the Asian Volleyball Championships, due to take place in Tehran from July 31 to August 8, as it was awarded by the Asian Volleyball Confederation rather than the international body.

National officials said in January it will allow foreign women to attend those matches but said local women will remain banned.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter also recently criticised the rule, describing it as "intolerable", and asked Iran to end ban against women.

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