2013–2025
Iran allows official sex-reassignment while criminalizing homosexuality.
What the law allows
Medical care for minorsAffirming
State-sanctioned sex-reassignment (Khomeini-era fatwa lineage; Legal Medicine Organization and family-court process) sits beside Islamic Penal Code criminalization of same-sex acts; the UK Home Office CPIN documents conversion pressure.
UK Home Office — Iran SOGI CPIN (December 2025)
Key dates2013–2025
2013–2025: State-sanctioned sex-reassignment (Khomeini-era fatwa lineage; Legal Medicine Organization and family-court process) sits beside Islamic Penal Code criminalization of same-sex acts; the UK Home Office CPIN documents conversion pressure.
UK Home Office — Iran SOGI CPIN (December 2025)
Official sources
Middle East. State-sanctioned sex-reassignment beside criminalized homosexuality.
Full official record
Iran’s medical cell is Affirming because the state permits and processes sex-reassignment surgery. The pathway sits in a Khomeini-era fatwa lineage (secondary sources disagree on the calendar year) and a Legal Medicine Organization / family-court process. Article 4(18) of the Family Protection Law (1391/2013) puts “gender change” (تغییر جنسیت) in family-court jurisdiction. Homosexuality is criminalized under the Islamic Penal Code (same-sex sexual acts, including livat). The UK Home Office Country Policy and Information Note (updated December 2025) documents conversion/ “corrective” practices and pressure that can push gay and gender-nonconforming people, including some who do not identify as trans, toward transition.
State-sanctioned sex-reassignment sits beside a penal code that criminalizes same-sex acts.