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A hound of Tehran. (AFP/Getty)

What do neckties, rappers, Barbie and pet dogs have in common?

For some arch-conservatives in Iran, they are all elements of a Western cultural invasion that needs to be confronted. The biggest and most constant threat to the country was how Irans deputy defense minister, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan, characterized it in an impassioned speech earlier this year to denounceWestern ways.

The latest swipe came last week. A group of hard-line lawmakers proposed a punishment of 74 lashes and fines up to $2,600 for publicly displaying certainpets, according to the reformist newspaper Shargh. They mentioned monkeys or other animals. But the proposal is clearly aimed at dogs still very rare as pets in Iran, but increasingly appearing as a sort of badge of sophistication among a certain crowd of liberal leaners.

The proposal backed by a relative handful of lawmakers, according tonews reports is unlikely to pass in its current form. But its an instructive study in Irans never-ending identity crises.

In the years after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the opponents of Western influence "Westoxification in the parlance of Iranian leaders had the upper hand. The enforcers of the new order had almost unchallenged authority to quash anything seen as favoring the Great Satan in Washington and its allies. (Except maybe the pre-revolution Lincolns, Cadillacs and other Detroit imports that were simply too cool to destroy.)

Gradually, however, the barriers began to fracture. Music cassettes of Western bands and VCR tapes of Hollywood movies appeared in the 1980s. Then came satellite dishes. Burger joints, pizza places, jeans. The Internet. Mani-pedis. Now, the latest smartphones and tablets are routed through third countries to skirt U.S. economic sanctions. A popular Tehran fast-food place essentially a clone of Hardee's used to play American cartoons on an endless video loop.

On the Web, an on again-off again Instagram account called Rich Kids of Tehran purports to showcase a slice of the capital as blinged out as any Kardashian.

Meanwhile, the current government of President Hassan Rouhani reads like a Western alumni guide. Rouhani studied in Scotland. A top policy adviser, Mahmoud Vaezi, has degrees from colleges in California and started his doctorate at Louisiana State University. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who went to San Francisco State University and the University of Denver, tweets about everything from the ongoing nuclear talks to his achingback.

Read more here:
WorldViews: Could be the dog days of Irans culture wars