IRAN SEEKS TO EXTINGUISH HUBBLE-BUBBLE PIPES

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian authorities are trying to snuff out one of the
country's favourite pastimes, the smoking of hubble-bubble water pipes,
whose apple and citrus tobaccos waft through most Persian restaurants.

Police told Reuters there was no particular focus on the pipes, saying the
after-dinner relaxants had just fallen victim to a directive banning
smoking in all public places.

Health Ministry official Hassan Azaripour confirmed the ban, however.
"According to Health Ministry directives, the ban on water pipes will be
implemented," he told the Sharq daily on Tuesday.

The paper added that restaurant proprietors and patrons risked fines from
Monday if they puffed away on the cool smoke of the long-necked bottle pipes.

Iran's government earlier this month passed measures to control cigarette
smoking. It is now banned in public places, vendors cannot sell to under
18s, steep tariffs have been slapped on imported brands and all packets
must carry health warnings in Persian.

But in the move against water pipes, or qalyoun in Persian, many detected
the hand of the morals police who associate them with drug use and flirting.

The hardline judiciary announced a crackdown, also starting on Monday,
against mingling of the sexes in cafes and sports clubs and against women
who flout strict Islamic dress codes.

VICE AND FORNICATION

Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, from the conservative judiciary, told
Sharq his department would not be directly policing traditional eateries
where qalyoun are smoked but would take up any cases of loose morals that
came their way.

"Of course we will be rigorous in dealing with the promoters of vice and
fornication," he said.

Young men and women often spend their evenings chatting round a qalyoun in
restaurants or on carpet-decked platforms in parks. The more rebellious
sprinkle hashish among the tobacco on the smouldering white charcoals.

In Darband, a mountain retreat north of Tehran, panicky restaurateurs were
packing all their water pipes into boxes on Tuesday. Waiters nervously
declined to discuss the pipes purge.

But in one old-style restaurant in central Tehran, diners smoked away
oblivious to the new rules after a hearty platter of kebabs and chicken in
walnut and pomegranate sauce.

When asked why authorities had banned qalyoun, waiter Peiman tapped his
forefinger against his temple: "They are mad," he said.

Some waiters said traditional restaurants had received letters allowing
them to continue providing qalyoun, so as not to lose tourist trade.

Restaurant manager Iraj dismissed moral arguments against water pipes.

"It is not vice," he said. "People are scared of these men who quote the
Koran to make law but vice is not in external things like water pipes. Vice
is in your own heart."