An Iranian official said a kindergarten has been closed down in Tehran because of a mixed-gender swimming pool. Welfare department official Ebrahim Ghafari announced the temporary closure in an interview with the hard-line Tasnim news agency, which earlier this week published a critical article that included photos in which young children in boys' and girls' swimsuits could be seen together in a pool. Tasnim had reported disapprovingly that the pool belonged to a kindergarten in an affluent neighborhood of the capital that had allowed mixed swimming and "proudly" posted the photos on its official website.
Ghafari said that, following the report, authorities made a surprise visit to the kindergarten. He said, "The management of the kindergarten would not acknowledge the issue," adding that "all the evidence in the pictures matched the kindergarten."
Ghafari said that an emergency meeting was held at which authorities decided that the kindergarten would be temporarily shut down for not respecting "rules and norms."