Iran arrests two men after posing in military uniform, raising monarchist flag

Iranian authorities arrested two men after a video went viral showing them dressed in military uniforms while carrying a flag with a monarchist emblem, local media reported on Thursday.

The video, filmed inside a Tehran metro station, showed the two men brandishing a flag carrying the "lion and sun" emblem associated with Iran's former monarchy.

It was circulated widely on social media in Iran, according to the Fars news agency.

Fars said that an investigation determined that the two men were not members of the Iranian armed forces, but did not specify their identity.

"The two men were arrested for abusing the military uniforms," said Fars, with other media also reporting the incident.

Iran's national flag - green, white, and red - was changed after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Western-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

The monarchist "lion and sun" emblem was replaced with the current red insignia representing the word Allah, designed in the form of a tulip.