By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -On Tehran's bustling streets, signs of change are unmistakable. Women walk unveiled in jeans and sneakers, men and women linger together in cafés where Western music hums softly, and couples stroll hand-in-hand — subtle acts that chip away at the rigid social codes that have long defined the Islamic Republic.

But beneath the surface, a darker reality is unfolding. Iran's clerical rulers are intensifying a crackdown on political dissent to instil fear and prevent unrest, four activists inside Iran told Reuters.

Hundreds of journalists, lawyers, students, writers, and human rights advocates have been harassed, summoned, detained, or subjected to other punitive measures in recent months, according to rights groups and activists.

The authorities' strategy is calculated: relax visible restrictions to soothe public opinion amid Iran's growing economic isolation, while quietly intensifying a crackdown on political dissent, three Iranian officials and one former senior reformist official said.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, based in Washington D.C., said the strategy shows "tactical management" but the government's red lines remain firm.

"That contradiction is deliberate: a release valve for the public, coupled with a hard ceiling on genuine dissent," Vatanka said.

Iran's clerical rulers are facing one of their gravest tests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Conflict with Israel left Iranian military and nuclear sites badly damaged in June, and has dismantled its regional network of allies - from Hamas in Gaza to Lebanon's Hezbollah and militias in Iraq.

At home, the economy is reeling from the collapse of the rial currency, soaring inflation, and crippling energy and water........

© Al Monitor