Iran reportedly is trying to attract foreigners seeking transgender surgeries after years of persecuting gay citizens.

Iran, long known for pressuring gay and trans people into unwanted operations under threat of severe punishment, is now pitching itself as a bargain destination for gender-changing procedures, according to The New York Times.

With an economy battered by war and sanctions, authorities are promoting "medical tourism" packages that bundle surgeries with hotel stays and sightseeing, aiming to generate more than $7 billion a year.

English-language sites advertise vaginoplasties, mastectomies, and phalloplasties at a fraction of Western prices — some as low as $4,500 at government hospitals. That's far below the roughly $30,000 to $45,000 cited for common procedures in Thailand and the U.S., the Times reports.

Iran is among the few Muslim-majority countries that legally allows, and even subsidizes, gender-changing care, a policy rooted in a 1980s fatwa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini granting legal recognition contingent on surgery.

Surgeons and tour operators say patients now arrive from the U.S., Europe, Australia, and especially nearby countries where such care is banned.

One California patient told the Times he came because Iranian doctors seemed "more confident."

But the sales pitch masks a harsher reality inside Iran, where homosexuality is criminalized and punishable by flogging and death, and where U.N. investigators have documented pressure on gay and lesbian Iranians to undergo surgeries "without their free consent."

Activists and scholars told the Times that trans Iranians who decline surgery face stigma, violence, and official harassment.

Iran's bid to become a hub for low-cost transition care is less a rights breakthrough than an economic strategy layered atop an abusive system.

Accounts of danger remain widespread. Iran International reported the recent killing of 25-year-old trans activist Sogand Pakdel, allegedly shot by an uncle in an "honor" crime at a family wedding near Shiraz, underscored the risks.

Rights advocates cited a pattern of impunity, lenient laws for familial killings, and social media celebrations of anti-LGBTQ violence.

"Iran is a country where being different can cost you your life," one activist told the outlet, calling for legal and cultural reform to halt a cycle of abuse.

Safety concerns extend to state custody. In a separate New York Times account of Israel's June 23 strike on Tehran's Evin Prison, rights lawyers said approximately 100 transgender inmates were missing after their ward was destroyed and were presumed dead by authorities.

Medical standards are another point of contention.

The Times cites a U.N. record of botched operations and complications and quotes an experienced Tehran urologist warning that tour companies' rapid timelines are unsafe for complex surgeries that require extensive planning and follow-up.

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