A group of women stunt performers in Tehran is working in Iranian film and training men in a field long dominated by men, according to a report by AFP.
Nasrin Teymouri, who is in her thirties, leads what AFP describes as Iran's only all-female stunt crew, called "Stunt Powerful". The agency said stunt work has traditionally been controlled by men, but Iranian women are increasingly establishing themselves in it.
In a report carried by Kuwait Times, AFP described a skatepark in southern Tehran. During a training session, a woman performed a fire stunt with her body ablaze, while young women practised backward flips into a foam pit nearby.
Ms Teymouri earns a living by teaching gymnastics, AFP reported. She now appears in successful Iranian productions and also trains male stunt performers.
The skatepark is dedicated to extreme sports. It is named "Navid Park" after its founder and opened a year ago, according to AFP, which described the surrounding neighbourhood as relatively traditional.
The crew is made up of women and men and meets for practice several times a month, AFP reported. The agency named other performers in its photo captions as Mojgan Nematollahi, Arshia Teymouri, Atena Bigdeli and Navid Ghasemi. The photographs were taken on 25 September 2026.
A nine-year-old girl, Mahisa Babayi-Parsa, also takes part in the stunts. She told AFP: "I've been set on fire twice. I've jumped from heights, tumbled down stairs, and even been ejected from a car."
Ms Teymouri told AFP that until a few years ago, men used to dress up as women to perform stunts in place of actresses. She said that even prominent directors would bluntly tell the women they could not be stunt performers simply because they were women.
She said attitudes had changed because film-makers saw the women's work, accepted it and liked it. "Eventually, they placed their trust in us," she told AFP. She added that in the past, the women's presence on set used to unsettle male colleagues.
Ms Teymouri also spoke to AFP about fear. She said she gets scared very easily and is afraid of heights and speed. She said facing that fear gave her great pleasure every time, and that it had driven her to survive in the profession.
No response from Iranian officials or film industry bodies was included in AFP's report. The claims that the group is the country's only all-female stunt crew, and the account of directors rejecting women, come from AFP and from Ms Teymouri herself. They have not been independently checked.
AFP stated that mixed-gender participation remains banned in many sports in Iran, where men and women are not even permitted to visit the same gym. The agency did not set out the legal basis for those restrictions.
Women also face other legal and social limits on public life in Iran, including a mandatory dress code. Ms Teymouri's account of men standing in for actresses points to how Iranian film has handled stunt work involving female characters.
Other Iranian women have pursued stunt careers elsewhere. The gymnast Mahsa Ahmadi became a stuntwoman abroad and was profiled by Qantara. She told the outlet there were too few opportunities and too many restrictions in Iran. The date of that profile has not been verified.
Iran's film industry is large and well regarded internationally. The role of women in sport and the arts remains a continuing subject of debate in the country.
AFP did not report any specific plans for the group. The crew continues to train several times a month, and no projects or events had been announced.
