Through war, political unrest and rampant inflation that has put the dreams of many beyond reach, Iran’s youth have held on to one luxury that helps them feel normal in abnormal times: frequenting coffee shops with friends. Across the country, they pack into cafes and spill out onto the sidewalk — chatting, smoking cigarettes, flirting and enjoying one of the few affordable diversions still available to them. These mixed-gender gatherings, where women go unveiled and some customers even discreetly drink alcohol, both illegal acts in Iran, have become a conspicuous counterculture, visible to any passerby.

It has not escaped the attention of the authorities, either. In recent weeks, the police have been shutting down dozens of cafes, usually citing a failure to abide by Iran’s mandatory hijab law. The crackdown has stretched to cities across the country, taking in restaurants and boutiques as well, according to statements from officials, though some businesses have since reopened.

It is a social scene, experts say, that challenges the government’s efforts to dominate Iran’s public spaces. Since nationwide protests in January that began over the spiraling economy and were crushed by lethal force, the government has sought to tightly control any public gatherings. And as Iran’s war with Israel, aimed in part at unseating the Islamic republic, drags on without resolution, the regime has held pro-government nighttime rallies that serve both to bolster a narrative of popular public support and dissuade dissidents from protesting.

Cafe owners, employees and their customers in Iran said in interviews that the authorities appeared to be targeting cafes that were clustered next to each other. The small footprint of these businesses often means that customers linger on the sidewalk, forming spontaneous gatherings that the authorities regard with wariness."It seems that a campaign has begun to control postwar Iran, a society that is unhappy and under strain," said Amir, 45, a cafe owner in Iran who said his business was not shuttered in the latest round but had been previously. "We always console ourselves with the thought that this is just a wave. They come and shut us down, but we rise again."Amir, like other Iranians interviewed for this article, asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retribution from Iran’s government."The cafes are being shut down because of the crowds that gather outside them in the afternoons," said Leila, a 36-year-old artist in Iran.

The authorities, she said, "seem to think it’s some kind of protest gathering or something, when really it’s just a bunch of young women and men who look a little different from what the officials are used to, hanging out together."Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The authorities have given various justifications for shutting down the businesses, from routine regulatory violations to not complying with mandatory hijab rules. "Social and moral misconduct," "failing to observe Islamic values" and "norm-breaking" have also been cited. Indeed, the coffee shops, with their impromptu gatherings and customers who flout the hijab law, do break the rules and norms that the government expects Iranians to abide by.

Three Iran residents, including one cafe owner, said that many of the cafes in central Tehran were known for serving beer. Alcohol consumption in Iran is punishable by lashing. Sara, an author and researcher in Iran who has written a book on Iran’s coffee shop culture, said the scene serves both as a respite from family and social restrictions and as a rejection of the government’s ideology."Through cafe culture, people could imagine and invent other ways of living and becoming," she said. "For a totalitarian government accustomed to homogenizing people’s lives, that is inherently dangerous."Even if the closures are an effort to disrupt this cafe culture, the government has struggled to curb drastic inflation.