Report on Citizenship Law: Iran interpretation would make the rest of the articles on nationality, in particular the essence of articles 979, 980, 983, worthless. Reading this sub-para in conjunction with other relevant articles on nationality, indicates that the sub-para as a legal presumption, only confirms the usual existing link between nationality and residency of the individuals in a country. In other words, while drafting the law on nationality, it was the most suitable solution to consider all people residing in the country as Iranians unless the contrary was proved 46 . However, this assumption must be applied only in exceptional cases today due to the fact that by invoking this paragraph, everyone would be entitled to be granted the nationality by virtue of residence in the country. 3.1. Ius sanguinis The Iranian citizenship law confers Iranian nationality to every child born to an Iranian father in Iran or outside of the country. It is not relevant here whether the father is a natural born or a naturalised Iranian47. It is, however, essential to determine whether the child is born to a valid and legitimate marriage as Article 1167 states that the child born of adultery shall not belong to the adulterer48 (The position of children born out of wedlock and those born to unregistered marriages will be looked into separately in this report). As mentioned briefly above, Iranian women cannot transfer their nationality to their children on an equal basis to Iranian men. This will be discussed as well in more detail in the next part of this report. 3.2. Foundlings The third sub-para of Article 976 is based on the ius soli principle according to which Iranian nationality is granted to those born in Iran to unknown parents49. The rationale behind this subpara is to prevent cases of statelessness. However, for the application of this Article it is essential that the conditions as set out are met50. ‘Unknown’ here implies that it is not possible under any circumstances to establish that the child belongs to someone51. Some scholars argue that this Article is also applicable in cases where the law does not allow for such a belonging, namely, where a child is born out of wedlock since, as it was mentioned above, the child born of adultery does not belong to the adulterer52. 3.3. Double ius soli 46 ٨۶‫ﻣﺤﻤﻮد ﺳﻠﺠﻮﻗﯽ ص‬، ‫ﺑﺎﯾﺴﺘﮫ ھﺎی ﺣﻘﻮق ﺑﯿﻦ اﻟﻤﻠﻞ ﺧﺼﻮﺻﯽ‬،١٣٨۵،. (Mahmood Saljouqi, The Rules of International Private Law, Tehran: Mizan, Vol 4, 2006, page 86). ‫ﻣﺤﻤﻮد ﺳﻠﺠﻮﻗﯽ‬، ‫ﺣﻘﻮق ﺑﯿﻦ اﻟﻤﻠﻞ ﺧﺼﻮﺻﯽ‬،١٣٧٠، ٧٩‫ ص‬. (Mahmood Saljouqi, International Private Law, Tehran: Office of International Legal Services of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1991, page 79). 48 Jason Tucker, Exploring Statelessness and Nationality In Iran, 2014, page 17. 49 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 976(3). 50 In practice, where the conditions set forth in the article are met, the unknown child is always granted Iranian nationality. 51 ‫ﻣﺣﻣد ﻧﺻﯾری‬، ‫ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن اﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﯽ‬،١٣٨٣، ۶٣‫ص‬. (Mohamad Nasiri, International Private Law, Tehran: Agah, 2004, page 63). 52 ‫ﻗﺎﻧﻮن ﻣﺪﻧﯽ در ﻧﻈﺎم ﺣﻘﻮﻗﯽ‬،١٣٨١، ۵٩٠‫ﻧﺎﺻﺮ ﮐﺎﺗﻮزﯾﺎن ص‬، ‫ﮐﻨﻮﻧﯽ‬. (Nasser Katouzian, The Civil Code in the current legal system, Tehran: Mizan publication,2002, page 590). 47 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13 - © 2020 Author(s) 7