A 27-year long rule banning women from attending football matches in the Islamic country was controversially extended to volleyball in 2012 due to the rising popularity of the sport.

The ban gained worldwide publicity in 2014 following the arrest of British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami.

Ghavami, arrested for "propaganda against the regime" after attending an FIVB World League match in capital Tehran, spent 151 days in Evin prison before she was released and charges eventually dropped. 

The FIVB were initially criticised for a lack of action but vowed to work with Iranian authorities and promised not to allocate any more events to the country until the ban was lifted.

They subsequently reversed this decision, adopting a carrot rather than a stick approach to resolve the problems while repeatedly pledging to have the ban lifted ahead of Rio 2016. 

Officials have now concluded, however, that they are unlikely to achieve a definitive lifting of the ban given the complex political and religious issues and must therefore adopt a more ad-hoc approach.

"We are completely in agreement with the call to have women attending events," FIVB secretary general Fernando Lima told insidethegames here during the SportAccord Convention.

"But we have to understand the religious and cultural conditions in Iran.

"Volleyball is not relevant enough for the Government to set a precedent and change.

"Lots of judgements and decisions are based on religious principles - do you think sport can go against that?

"At least by allowing Iran to host events, the conditions for people to express their views and opposition are there.

"How can boycotts and withdrawing competitions do that?

"We would also be punishing a whole generation of athletes trying to get into the sport by not holding any events in Iran."

This marks the first time the FIVB have definitively admitted that the ban is unlikely to be lifted before the Olympic Games in August.

Lima, a Brazilian former journalist wth 30 years of experience at companies including TV Globo, argues that the complexity of the situation has not always been treated fairly by media and protesting groups.

He pointed out how no-one has mentioned how men are also banned from attending female sporting events in the fiercely conservative country.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who has notably improved Iran's relations with the Western world and has also enhanced women's rights by appointing female Foreign Ministry spokespersons since he assumed office in 2013, is considered sympathetic to the campaign.

The situation is complicated by the power still held by religious figures, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A FIVB World Tour Open beach volleyball event took place in Kish Island in February, with some women present but others banned from attending amid claims they were undertaking a "political stunt".

Ultimately, the FIVB would like a "family-space" to be added at venues, but even this would need to pass a difficult authorisation process.

The focus now is on enabling women to attend events due to be held in Tehran during the FIVB World League in July.

This comes after difficulties when they tried to introduce similar measures last year.

"The problem was that, two weeks beforehand, they started seeing complaints from religious groups and radicals, who said: ' if you allow women to be there, you guys are going to see blood on the streets,'" added FIVB general director Fabio Azevedo to insidethegames.

"The National Federation therefore took the, correct, decision to progress more softly.

"They say they have to tread carefully, because it is a matter of security.

"When they see their names published in newspapers, they are afraid.

"It is a very delicate situation which is difficult for us [in other parts of the world] to understand."