Speaking in Isfahan on Friday, Ali Jannati said: “Those political currents that to seek to weaken and destroy the government offer incorrect information to religious scholars and members of parliament and distort the issue.”

He stressed that: “The Ministry of Guidance and Culture does not issue permits for women to sing solo.”

He added: “Ministry of Guidance works in adherence to Supreme Leader’s viewpoint.”

Jannati remarks followed statements by two senior clerics in Qom announcing that women cannot sing in Iran.

Nouri Hamedani and Makarem Shirazi in their lectures in Qom protested an album that had songs of a female singer, state-run news agency website Tabnak reported on February 4.

Nouri Hamedani said in his lecture: There is no problem with women talking, but “women singing cannot become common and we will stop it”. He continued: it is “religiously forbidden” for women to sing or play musical instruments in front of men.

“Any film, festival, book or music that is in contrast with revolutionary values will be stopped,” he reminded.

Makarem Shirazi, another senior mullah also showed his opposition to women singers in his lecture as a matter that “causes popular discontent”.