One of the longstanding conflicts in the Middle East has been the divide between Shia and Sunni, which has manifested itself in various forms throughout history. The current government of Iran, which is considered a Shia government, has always tried to marginalize the Sunni population and has subjected this religious minority to various forms of oppression.

One of the manifestations of this oppression is the denial of permission to Sunni Muslims to hold their religious ceremonies. We see that Sunnis do not have the freedom to hold their Eid prayers for Ramadan and Eid al-Adha. The latest incident was related to Eid al-Adha that passed; security forces prevented Sunni citizens of Tehran from holding their Eid al-Adha prayers in the neighborhoods of Sadeghiyeh and Saadat Abad.

The main reason is that the Sunni people of Iran have always tried to hold religious ceremonies of the mentioned holidays at the same time as Sunni Muslims in other Islamic regions, but this has always been met with opposition from Iranian officials, especially those known for their extremism among the Shia. They see this as Sunnis using the issue for political gain and as a tool. This is why, even after 35 years since the Iranian Revolution, the Sunni population of Tehran, with a population of over one million, is still deprived of having even one mosque in the province. Even in areas on the outskirts of Tehran with a Sunni majority, the situation is the same and they are not even allowed to rent a house for Friday prayers and the holidays of Ramadan and Eid. Furthermore, if anyone from the Sunni activists has tried to work towards resolving this issue, they have been threatened and even arrested by intelligence or other security agencies.

In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is emphasized that the official religion is Islam and the official sect is Twelver Shiism. Alongside this statement, it is also emphasized to respect the rights and hold ceremonies for the Sunni sects, including Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, and Hanbali, to the extent that if the people of a region are majority of a certain sect, they can rule according to the jurisprudence of that sect in matters such as divorce, marriage, wills, etc. However, when we look at the reality, we do not see anything from these promises. Furthermore, all Sunni sects are allowed to freely hold their own ceremonies according to the Constitution.

On the other hand, the Sunni community not only lacks the right to have a mosque, but they are also deprived of their basic rights in Tehran and other densely populated cities, while other religious minorities such as Kalimi, Zoroastrians, Christians, etc. have their own places of worship in Tehran and are free to practice their religious rituals. Therefore, it must be acknowledged that depriving Sunnis of a mosque under the supervision of Sunni scholars is undoubtedly a form of discrimination that the Iranian government should address.

The reality is that the Islamic Republic of Iran, even with more moderate individuals like Hassan Rouhani, is afraid of giving Sunnis access to mosques and gathering places during specific times, especially in cities with a majority Shia population. This is why they divide Sunnis into two groups, extremists and moderates, and use the excuse of extremists to deny moderates the right to participate in these activities.

The Iranian government always talks about unity between Sunnis and Shiites, but its actions have shown that it only favors those Sunnis who are officially registered as followers of this religion, even if they practice their religious rituals in the same way as their fellow Sunnis. They are still considered extremists.