While many countries around the world have taken steps in recent decades to outlaw child marriage by raising the minimum legal age to 18, the clerical regime in Iran has moved in the opposite direction. Not only is child marriage legally permitted in Iran, but it is explicitly codified in the regime’s law — a fact that legitimizes one of the most severe violations of children’s rights.
According to Article 1041 of the mullahs’ Civil Code, the legal minimum age of marriage is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. However, the law includes a major loophole:
“Marriage before the age of thirteen for girls and fifteen for boys is subject to the permission of the guardian and the approval of a competent court, with due regard to the child’s best interest.”
In practice, this means that girls under 13 — sometimes as young as 10 or even younger — may be legally married with the consent of a father (or male guardian) and a judge. The law does not protect girls from early marriage; it facilitates it.
The Clerical Regime: A Violator of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
This provision stands in stark contrast to international human rights standards. Iran is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which defines a child as anyone under 18 and obligates states to protect children from all forms of exploitation, including early marriage. Yet the mullahs’ domestic laws flagrantly violate both the spirit and the letter of that treaty.
The clerical regime’s position becomes even more disturbing when viewed globally. Only a handful of countries — such as Yemen and Niger — allow child marriage without a clear minimum age. With a legal minimum age of 13 for girls, Iran ranks among the top three countries with the lowest legal age for girls’ marriage worldwide.
The Clerical Regime’s Misogynistic Laws vs. the People’s Culture
And yet, the Iranian public’s attitude is often more progressive than the law itself. In many urban areas, and among families with higher levels of education and awareness, child marriage is seen as unacceptable and even shameful. The majority of Iranian families, despite the absence of strong protective laws, refrain from such practices.
In fact, the rise of child marriage in Iran is a phenomenon specific to the era of clerical rule. It has been legitimized under the regime’s laws and is fundamentally rooted in the growing poverty within society.
This reveals a striking disconnect between the people and the ruling regime. A government that continues to enforce a law so contrary to modern values, human dignity, and even the evolving norms of its own society, suffers from a deep legitimacy crisis. The persistence of such laws highlights not only institutionalized misogyny, but also the regime’s systematic violence against girls and women — all under the guise of religious or cultural justification.
The mullahs’ child marriage law is a symbol of an ideological and political system that has enshrined domination, inequality, and harm into its legal structure. As long as such laws remain, any claims by the regime to protect children’s rights or uphold human dignity ring hollow.
