Air France air stewardesses will be allowed to opt out of working on flights to Tehran after being ordered to wear headscarves when they land in the Iranian capital. 

The airline backed down after staff were outraged by a memo saying that female cabin crew would be required to cover their hair with a scarf when they leave the plane. 

The resumption of a thrice-weekly service between Paris and Tehran, planned for April 17 after an eight-year break, follows a thaw in relations since Iran agreed to dismantle large sections of its nuclear programme.

Iranian women have been forced by law to cover their hair or face stiff fines since the 1979 Islamic revolution. In staunchly secular France, however, public signs of religion have been frowned upon since a 1905 law separating church and state.

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