In Iranian traffic, the rich fake a crisis.

When the phone rang at a private ambulance center in Tehran, an Iranian soccer star was on the line. The operator expressed sympathy for the presumed medical emergency in his family.

The soccer star laughed and said nobody was sick. He was requesting a reservation for an ambulance to run errands. He wanted to avoid the choking traffic that can turn a 10-minute ride into a two-hour trek. The money he was offering was equivalent to a teacher’s monthly salary.

For wealthy Iranians, hiring an ambulance as one’s own chauffeur has become the latest trend in a country with no shortage of traffic jams.

The practice is illegal. All the ambulance companies contacted expressed concern that the abuse of the emergency-services vehicles — with their ability to run through red lights and be allowed a clear path to their destinations — would impede the speedy transfer of patients to medical facilities.

Many Iranians are calling for a crackdown, but the practice continues.

Mahmoud Rahimi, the head of Naji private ambulance service, which received the call from the soccer player, said, “Unfortunately, we get these kinds of calls, from rich people and from celebrities.”

Mr. Rahimi said the company declines such requests. “We are not a taxi service with a siren for the rich,” he said.

Tehran is a city of 14 million, and unregulated construction and development have turned it into one of world’s worst places for traffic jams.

The city has deployed ways to curb traffic — to no avail. Drivers in central Tehran require a permit, and for a time cars were allowed on the roads at times depending on whether the last number in their license plate was odd or even.

The average citizen has been engaged in cat-and-mouse games with the Islamic Republic for 40 years to defy restrictions, analysts say. From mandatory hijabs for women in public to bans on alcohol, the mingling of men and women, dancing, and the use of social media sites, rules are meant to be broken, many Iranians say.

The ambulance scandal, however, may have been a step too far — a violation of civic order. The backlash has been severe on social media and in newspapers. Many Iranians have criticized the government for not ending the violations.

“What a nightmare. They’ve ruined the city,” Araz Ghorbanoghli wrote on Twitter.

“Shameless,” Ehsan Teymourpour tweeted.

The business of private ambulance services started about two decades ago in response to a shortage of government ambulances.

Mr. Rahimi, of Naji ambulance service, said company drivers had reported an increase in cars refusing to make way for the ambulance.

“People see an ambulance and may think this is not a patient in a life-or-death situation; it’s a celebrity going to get a haircut,” Mr. Rahimi said.