Women in Iranian capital Tehran who drive their cars will now have to be more careful about being "properly veiled", as the authorities are likely to impound their vehicles if their heads are not covered.

Earlier this week, the Iranian police warned women that if they were found "poorly veiled" while driving, their cars would be seized immediately.

"If a (female) driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law," Tehran traffic police chief General Teymour Hosseini was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

While wearing a veil has been compulsory for women in Iran, many of them, especially in Tehran, have been liberal with their dress code over the years. 

The new law comes as a disappointment for them, a Tehran-based woman told IBTimes India. 

"What can we do? They say, they rule and we can't do anything but obey," the Iranian student said, and did not wish to be named.

"Iran is not heaven and not hell. We try to make a better life anyway," she said. 

Iranian journalist Seyedali Pourtabatabaie told IBTimes India that it is not uncommon for the police to pass such orders under the law. 

"Every summer, the police announce something like this as a directive order. This time, they are doing this and impounding cars of woman without veils. There is no report of a reaction to the  police act but it will come soon," Seyedali said. 

A 1979 photo of what is said to be the "last day that women were able to walk the streets of Tehran with their heads uncovered" has been doing the rounds on news sites and social media. 

Iranian photographer Hengameh Golestan had taken a photo of women protesting the new law making it mandatory for women to cover their heads in 1979. 

"This turned out to be the last day women walked the streets of Tehran uncovered. It was our first disappointment with the new post-revolution rulers of Iran. We didn't get the effect we had wanted. But when I look at this photo, I don't just see the hijab looming over it. I see the women, the solidarity, the joy – and the strength we felt," she was quoted as saying by The Guardian. 

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