In Iran, in November of 2019, the first Iranian identity card was issued for a child born to an Iranian mother and a foreign father. The news follows an October announcement by the Guardian Council to ratify a bill amending the law on conferring citizenship on children born to an Iranian mother and a foreign father regardless of where they are born. According to article one of the new law, children of Iranian women and non-Iranian men who were born before or after the law can be an Iranian citizen in case the Iranian mother requested if they have no security problem before the age of 18. The UN Refugee Agency also welcomed the law as a step toward reducing statelessness around the world.