Eliyeh Delavari and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria”116. As mentioned above, Iranian law grants nationality iure sanguinis but only by paternal line which means that Iranian mothers do not possess the same rights as Iranian fathers to confer nationality onto their children. This could be very problematic, in particular, in cases where the father is non-Iranian, unknown or stateless. For this reason, women’s rights organisations, human rights advocates and even some members of the Iranian Parliament have lobbied the Iranian government to establish gender justice in the law117. The issue was also raised by the Bureau of Legal Studies of the Iranian Parliament in 2005. The Bureau stated that “Without any doubt Iranian citizenship laws which were enacted more than 70 years ago, need revision as they do not reflect the change in women’s roles and their presence in society. Thus, the change in laws is necessary.”118 However, this was not a straightforward matter as there were political and socio-cultural concerns about changing the law to grant women equal citizenship rights119. Iranian authorities believed that such a change in law would lead to more cases of marriages between Iranian women and foreign men in particular Afghans. That, consequently, would increase the population of Afghans in the country which was considered as a security issue for the government120. Eventually, in the same year, among a number of amendments which were proposed to Parliament on women’s citizenship rights, an amendment to Article 976 was approved by Parliament. This led to a Constitutional Amendment by adding a single Article and two Notes to Article 1060 of the Civil Code in 2006, allowing children born to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers in Iran to apply for Iranian nationality after reaching the full age of 18 121 . The Amendment was ratified during the open meeting of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament), and approved by the Guardian Council on 21 September 2006. The text of the Amendment is as the following: “Children who are the result of marriage between foreign men and Iranian women, who have been born in Iran, or are born in Iran within one year from the date of the ratification of this law, will be able to apply for Iranian citizenship when they reach the full age of 18. These persons will be accepted as Iranian citizens if they lack criminal records or security violation backgrounds and renounce their non-Iranian citizenship. The Interior Ministry obtains evidence of the birth of the child in Iran as well as the issuing of marriage permit as stipulated in Article 1060 of the Civil Law, and the Law Enforcement Forces after being informed by the Interior Ministry issue the 116 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 24 October 1979, Art. 20. Ashraf Zahedi, ‘Transnational Marriages, Gendered Citizenship, and the Dilemma of Iranian Women Married to Afghan Men’, Iranian Studies, Vol. 40; Iss. 2, 2007, page 235. 118 Ashraf Zahedi, ‘Transnational Marriages, Gendered Citizenship, and the Dilemma of Iranian Women Married to Afghan Men’, Iranian Studies, Vol. 40; Iss. 2, 2007, page 236. 119 Ashraf Zahedi, ‘Transnational Marriages, Gendered Citizenship, and the Dilemma of Iranian Women Married to Afghan Men’, Iranian Studies, Vol. 40; Iss. 2, 2007, page 236. 120 One of the concerns of the government was that, Afghans might be used by external forces to disturb the political situation in Iran. Ashraf Zahedi, ‘Transnational Marriages, Gendered Citizenship, and the Dilemma of Iranian Women Married to Afghan Men’, Iranian Studies, Vol. 40; Iss. 2, 2007, page 236. 121 Note 1– If persons to whom this Articles applies, are older than 18 years of age at the time of the approval of this article, they must, within a period of one year, apply for Iranian citizenship. Note 2 – Persons who after the date of the ratification of this law are born in Iran, are the result of marriage between a foreign man and an Iranian woman, and the marriage of their parents has been registered from the inception of the marriage in compliance with Article 1060 of the Civil Law, will be accepted as Iranian citizens within one year after reaching the full age of 18 and without meeting the residence requirement stipulated in Article 979 of the Civil Law. Available at: http://irandataportal.syr.edu/nationality-law. 117 18 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13- © 2020 Author(s)