Sperm and egg donation can only happen in Iran if allowed by a religious fatwa, the Islamic Republic health ministry has decreed.

Deputy Health Minister Saeed Karimi said Sunday that the issue of egg and sperm donation to help infertility is beset with both legal and Sharia complications.

He said that the ministry is trying to reach a consensus based on "various fatwas" to announce a legal directive.

But the regime’s stance will be a desperate blow for many families and couples struggling to have children.

Donating sperm and eggs with the aim of helping the fertility of those who need help for various reasons has been legal in many countries for many years.

Head of Iran’s Scientific Association of Women and Midwives, Azam Mousavi told Borna news agency in April: “Until now, no law, resolution or protocol has been drafted and approved regarding sperm donation in Iran; It means that donating sperm is not legal, nor illegal in the country.

"Most Shia scholars do not consider donating sperm as permissible.

“Only a few scholars approve it under the condition that the donor of the sperm is known so that the child attributed to him can enjoy the rights such as inheritance.”

According to Ali Khamenei's fatwa, "in the absence of haram conditions such as looking, touching, etc., a stranger's sperm can be used for fertilization with a woman's egg, but the husband of the woman who became pregnant using this method will not be the father of the born baby.”