“What? For who?” she exclaimed to People.com after hearing the bizarre accusation for the first time.
“I just landed and came here (from the airport). I have not heard that one,” added Kim, who traces her heritage to Armenia, the country that borders Iran.
Government clerics claim the 35-year-old uses her favourite social media platform to encourage her 70.4 million followers to shun conservative traditions and subvert Islamic values.
In a country where women risk imprisonment and lashings for not being covered up, Kim stated commitment to the naked selfie had made her an enemy of the state.
Officials of the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corp, an organisation set up to help protect the country’s Islamic traditions and prevent foreign interference, have questioned the real reason for Kim’s Internet popularity.
Known as the morality police, they apparently believe she has been recruited by Instagram boss Kevin Systrom to target “young people and women” to lead them astray.
“Ms Kim Kardashian is a popular fashion model so Instagram’s CEO tells her, ‘Make this (modelling) native’,” Mostafa Alizadeh, a spokesman for the militant group, reportedly told local news outlet Iran Wire.
“There is no doubt that financial support is involved as well. We are taking this very seriously,” he said.
Iran has begun to crack down on locals who post glam shots to social networks.
The Revolutionary Guards say they have warned 170 individuals, 29 of whom are being targeted for prosecution as part of ‘Operation Spider 2’, say reports.
The agency accuses those accounts of “promoting a culture of promiscuity, weakening and rejecting the institution of family, ridiculing religious values and beliefs, promoting relationships outside moral rules, and publishing the private pictures of young women.”
Police have arrested eight models in a new crackdown targeting ‘un-Islamic acts’ such as women exposing their hair.
Some of the Instagram posters have fled the country.
One model and makeup artist, Elnaz Golrokh, posts beautifully filtered selfies of her new life in Dubai and advertises protein supplements, Daniel Wellington watches, and beauty products. She has 638,000 followers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFKbABwIQT8/
Elnaz is married to male model Hamid Fadaei, who has 201,000 followers and has also reportedly sought refuge from the regime in Dubai.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFemq5Zi0Gq/
