Arrested for being un-Islamic: 8 models arrested by Iranian Government, disgraced publicly.

Arrested for being un-Islamic: The Iranian models held by morality police and forced to grovel in public for posting glamorous selfies of themselves online without headscarves 

• Police have arrested eight models in a crack down on 'un-Islamic acts' 
• Operation targeted models who posted photos while not wearing a hijab
• The sting is said to have identified 170 people running Instagram pages
• One famous beauty, Elham Arab, was interrogated at Revolutionary Court

Models in Iran have been arrested and forced to grovel in public for posting glamorous pictures of themselves online without headscarves.

Police have arrested eight models in a new crackdown targeting 'un-Islamic acts' such as women exposing their hair.

One famous beauty, Elham Arab, known for her wedding-dress portraits, was interrogated on camera at the Iranian Revolutionary Court with her blonde hair hidden under a black chador.

The sting is said to have identified 170 people running Instagram pages - 59 photographers and makeup artists, 58 models, 51 fashion salon managers and designers, and two active institutions.

'We found out that about 20 per cent of the (Iranian) Instagram feed is run by the modelling circle,' Javad Babaei said on state television on Sunday.

They have been 'making and spreading immoral and un-Islamic culture and promiscuity', he added.

Babaei said it was the judiciary's duty to 'confront those who committed these crimes in an organised manner'.

In addition to the eight arrests, criminal cases have been opened against 21 other people, he said.

The sting operation has homed in on a database of over 300 popular Iranian Instagram accounts and connected accounts.

Police have arrested ePolice have arrested eight models in a new crackdown targeting 'un-Islamic acts' such as women exposing their hair online. Pictured is model Niloofar Behboudi

The arrests were made in a sting operation code-named Spider-2 which particularly targeted users of the picture-sharing site Instagram (pictured, Behboudi)

According to reports those arrested include Melikaa Zamani, Niloofar Behboudi, Donya Moghadam, Dana Nik, Shabnam Molavi, Elnaz Golrokh and Hamid Fadaei.

The hijab has been compulsory in public in Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution. 

Arrests follow the detentions of artists, poets, journalists and activists as moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration secured a landmark nuclear deal with world powers. 

They signal that hard-liners in the police and judiciary, who were unable to stop the accord and fear looser social norms will weaken the Islamic Republic, still hold significant power in the country. 

Those targeted saw their businesses shut down, as well as their pages on Instagram and Facebook removed. Arab's Instagram account could not be accessed on Monday.

The previous Spider operation targeted 'pornography and insulting Islamic sanctity,' officials have said.

In recent years, Iranian women - especially in the capital, Tehran - have worn the mandatory scarf loosely on their head, drawing the ire of conservatives in the Islamic Republic. 

Tehran police chief Gen. Hossein Sajedinia in April announced his department had deployed 7,000 male and female officers for a new plainclothes division - the largest such undercover assignment in memory - to enforce the government-mandated Islamic dress code.