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As expected, the third round of talks under the Russian-sponsored initiative to find an amicable solution to the conflict in Afghanistan failed to make any headway. However, this time the Central Asian States also attended the moot along with China, Pakistan, Iran, India and Afghanistan.

The US, which was invited by Russia to be a part of the dialogue, declined the offer, saying that the motives of the talks were not clear. Afghanistan has also been expressing its weariness about Russias attempts to woo the Taliban. The Taliban, who had earlier welcomed the Russian move, reportedly threw a spanner in the works by withdrawing their support to the dialogue.

The spokesman of the Taliban told Voice of America that: We cannot call these negotiationsa dialogue for the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. This meeting stems from [the] political agendas of the countries who are organising it. This hasnothing to do with us, nor do we support it.

With the Taliban having withdrawn their support, Afghanistan looking askance at the initiative and the US abstaining to attend, the Russian initiative, for all practical purposes, seems to have come to a naught. Its significance lies only in the fact that they gathered, discussed and dispersed.

At the end of the talks, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement. It stated: The parties had a frank and thorough exchange of views on the current political and military situation in Afghanistan as well as on its prospects and expressed common concern over growing terrorist activities in the country, leading to rising tensions and increasing violence which adds to the predicament of the Afghan people.

The meetings participants stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan crisis while the only way to resolve it was by ensuring a national reconciliation using political methods in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. The parties reiterated their support for the efforts being made by the Kabul government and the countrys social and political circles which are aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan.

The foregoing statement by the Russian foreign ministry is an attempt to conceal the embarrassment that Russia had to face as a result of the withdrawal of support to the talks by the Taliban and the reservations of Afghanistan and the US about the motives behind the effort. Pakistan has, all along, rightly maintained that the participation of the US was absolutely imperative in any initiative related to promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, as it was the biggest stakeholder in the issue.

The view held by Pakistan has great merit. The US since its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has invested astronomical amounts of dollars and has lost hundreds of their soldiers. It has failed to end the insurgency by the Taliban who remain a potent threat to the Afghan government installed and propped up by the US. It is now in the process of getting out of Afghanistan and wants to see an end to the conflict in that country before leaving. However, it will not abandon the Afghan government when the situation is not under its control. Instead, it wants to make sure that Afghanistan does not relapse into factional fighting during the Taliban regime. The US must, therefore, be part of any effort to end conflict in Afghanistan.

But the fact remains that the regional countries like China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran also have a huge stake in peace in Afghanistan. The best way to move forward will be if all the stakeholders to get together and use their collective wisdom to find a way out of the conundrum. This is, however, easier said than done. The situation is complicated and has made even worse by the US-Russia tiff over the US bombing of an airbase in Syria.

The possibility of these two powers coming together in the foreseeable future to resolve the Afghan conflict appears to be remote. Another factor which has reduced the prospects of talks on Afghanistan is the Talibans position that they will not participate in any dialogue before the foreign troops leave the country.

How can Russian even promote intra-Afghan dialogue without Afghanistan and the US agreeing to the proposition? In fact, under the prevailing situation, the solution to the Afghanistan conundrum lies in the hands of the US administration and the Taliban. How to bring these two stakeholders to an agreement on resolving the Afghan conflict remains a million dollars question.

The recent developments suggest that the US will probably get tough under the Trump administration and pursue an aggressive policy on Afghanistan. The bombing of an airbase in Syria, the dropping of the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan and a tough stance against North Korea point towards to the things that have yet to come.

The unannounced dash to Pakistan by the US National Security Advisor Lt Gen HR McMaster in the backdrop of the foregoing developments is also of great significance. He has met the prime minister, the adviser to the PM on foreign affairs and the COAS. According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister House, the US security adviser assured the prime minister that the new administration was committed to strengthening bilateral relations and working with Pakistan to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan and in South Asian.

A day earlier, while speaking to Tolo News in Afghanistan, he said: The best way for the Pakistani leaders to pursue their interest in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence.

The prime minister reportedly briefed the general about the efforts that Pakistan has made in combating terrorism and the steps taken to improve the security situation and maintain a peaceful neighbourhood. He also spoke about the countrys resolve to work with the international community to find an amicable solution to the Afghan problem.

In addition, the prime minister expressed Pakistans strong desire to work with the US to promote peace and security in the region and highlighted the desirability of the US playing a role in resolving the Kashmir issue. The statement did not say whether there was any change in his alleged view about Pakistan using proxies or not.

The US recently had indicated the possibility of it playing a role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and India before anything happened. For that to happen, Pakistan will have to focus more on winning the confidence of the US regarding its indiscriminate action against all terrorists rather than pursuing its objectives through proxies, as alleged by the US.

The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: [emailprotected]

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Talks on Afghanistan - The News International

Last week, the United States dropped what the military is calling the mother of all bombs on ISIS targets in Afghanistan.

We caught up with Sen. Susan Collins Wednesday who says the military response was appropriate.

It appears that very large bomb that was dropped in Afghanistan did take out a whole network of caves that Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists were using to disrupt the government in Afghanistan, to terrorize the population, and to put our remaining troops in jeopardy, she said.

We also spoke to Sen. King, who is delivering a lecture at Colby College Wednesday on U.S. foreign policy.

Sen. King told us, No war has ever been won by air power alone. Weve got to be careful that we cant rely on that because one of the problems is collateral damage. If you kill five terrorists, but twenty civilians, you may have created another 20 or 30 terrorists. So thats a calculation that we really have to make. We cant not defend our vital interests, but we also have to be understanding what the long term implications are in terms of our ability to deal with terrorism, to deal with rogue states like Iran and like North Korea.

The senator says he has not yet received a full intelligence report of what was achieved with the recent bombing in Afghanistan.

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Senators Collins and King Comment on Bombing Afghanistan - WABI

A skeptical Trump administration has confirmed that Iran continues to comply with the 2015 nuclear disarmament deal but says the White House is conducting an internal review of the landmark arms control accord that President Trump once called the worst deal ever.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a letter to Congress that the National Security Council will lead an interagency review of whether easing economic sanctions against Iran as part of the accord is vital to the national security interests of the United States.

Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror through many platforms and methods, Tillerson wrote.

The Treasury Department still maintains Obama-era sanctions aimed at Tehrans support for terrorist groups and its ballistic missile program, and those conceivably could be tweaked. But any moves to impose a major new regime of penalties could undermine the accord and spur a new nuclear crisis in the Middle East.

The review also could recommend more subtle ways to apply pressure to Tehran, which actively supports militant groups such as Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as Houthi fighters in Yemen and President Bashar Assads military in Syria, all of which the U.S. opposes.

It comes as the White House has scrambled to balance the threat of direct military action and the pursuit of diplomatic options, especially with China, to slow or block North Korea from expanding its nuclear arsenal and developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver a warhead to U.S. shores.

Tensions rose sharply in northeast Asia last week when the Trump administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns government traded bellicose threats about a possible clash over an expected North Korean nuclear test.

In the end, Pyongyang test-fired a midrange ballistic missile that fell into the sea seconds after launch, defusing the crisis for now. And White House warnings that an aircraft carrier strike force was rushing north proved false; the armada was 3,500 miles away last weekend although the Pentagon insisted Wednesday that the Carl Vinson and three other warships are now en route to the Sea of Japan.

As a candidate, Trump vowed to rip up the nuclear deal with Iran as soon as he took office, one of several signature campaign promises on foreign policy that he has ignored.

Several members of Trumps incoming Cabinet said during their Senate confirmation hearings that they had decided the accord had effectively constrained Irans ability to produce a nuclear bomb, and Trump has not moved to abrogate the accord.

Trump similarly has not moved to cancel the Paris climate accord of 2015, despite his vow on the campaign trail, nor has he abandoned the one China policy that has guided U.S. relations with Beijing for 40 years or reversed the Obama administrations opening to Cuba, although a high-level review of Cuba policy is underway.

Congress has required the State Department to notify it every 90 days whether Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal, which required Tehran to dismantle or disable its nuclear infrastructure, including its ability to produce bomb-grade fuel.

This was the first notification under the Trump administration.

The United Nations Security Council lifted a web of trade, banking and other sanctions on Iran last year after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.s nuclear watchdog agency, certified Tehran's compliance with the nuclear deal.

The IAEA continues to monitor Irans facilities through regular visits, cameras and other surveillance systems. Irans leaders have always insisted they did not seek to build a bomb.

In January, a year after the deal came into force, the IAEA said that Iran had reduced its uranium stockpile by 98% and had removed two-thirds of its centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium.

Critics long have complained that the accord, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, did not address Irans support for terrorist groups. It focused only on curbing Tehrans ability to someday produce a nuclear bomb, which was seen as the primary threat to global security.

Since taking office, administration officials have realized that pulling out of the deal would be more complicated than Trump had suggested at his campaign rallies.

Since it was negotiated with Iran by six world powers the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany a unilateral U.S. withdrawal would create diplomatic chaos, especially if Washington were to impose new sanctions over the objections of the other signatories.

Moreover, numerous security experts have warned that abandoning the deal could give Iran an excuse to eject the IAEA inspectors, rebuild its infrastructure, resume uranium enrichment and take other steps toward building a bomb but deprive Washington of the diplomatic leverage and on-the-ground intelligence gathering needed to punish Tehran.

Even Israel, one of the most vocal opponents of the accord when it was being negotiated, has told the Trump administration that it should focus on finding additional measures to crack down on Iranian-backed terrorism, not linger on voiding the existing accord, diplomatic sources said.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, asked about the Iran certification Wednesday, said Trump would await the review before deciding on the next step.

That's why we're undergoing this interagency review, Spicer said at a news briefing. We will have recommendations that will be presented to the president on where the deal stands and how to act further.

For now, the administration took steps to shore up its alliance with Saudi Arabia, Irans chief rival in the region. Iran is a Shiite Muslim theocracy whereas the Saudi kingdom is Sunni dominated.

Relations with Riyadh had deteriorated under the Obama administration, which criticized Saudi airstrikes on civilian targets in neighboring Yemen in that countrys civil war.

On a visit to Riyadh on Wednesday, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis told Saudi officials that it was important to reinforce Saudi Arabias resistance to Irans mischief.

Speaking later to reporters, Mattis added, Everywhere you look [that] theres trouble in the region, you find Iran. He said the Trump administration would help countries trying to checkmate Iran.

Critics of the nuclear accord with Iran applauded the interagency review as a way to increase pressure on Tehran.

"It underscores the Trump administrations commitment to ramp up pressure on Iran through the use of sanctions tied to terrorism and other malign activities," said Mark Dubowitz, head of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that opposed the Iran accord.

Tillerson made the same point later Wednesday at the State Department, saying the White House will look at more than whether Iran is meeting its obligations under the nuclear accord, citing its human rights record, its support for militants and what he called its alarming and ongoing provocations to export terror and violence.

The Iran nuclear deal, he told reporters, is "another example of buying off" an adversary that "only delays" production of nuclear weapons, citing a series of failed diplomatic deals with North Korea since the mid-1990s.

"A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it's clear there are many," he said.

Bold promises, fewer results: Trump's executive orders don't always live up to his claims

Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter

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The Iran nuclear deal that Trump once vowed to tear apart is holding at least for now - Los Angeles Times

President Trump's team is working to "checkmate Iran" through enhanced coordination with Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies, according to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

"What we're seeing is the nations in the region and others elsewhere trying to checkmate Iran and the amount of disruption, the amount of instability they can cause," Mattis told reporters in Riyadh following a meeting with Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense. "It's got to be ended."

Mattis said his meetings with Saudi Arabian leaders were "highly productive in terms of outcomes." Those meetings coincided with an announcement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hinting that the Trump administration might withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by former President Barack Obama's national security team.

"Strategic patience is a failed approach," Tillerson said Thursday during a short address at the State Department. "The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran."

The two comments appear to signal a major shift in U.S. policy towards confrontation with Iran.

"We have both spoken, His Majesty has talked to President Trump," Mattis said. "We have come to conclusions about our cooperation for the future. And now that we have the blessing of our leadership, it's important we actually do something with it we actually do something as we reinforce Saudi Arabia's resistance to Iran's mischief and make you more effective with your military as we work together as partners."

That could start in Yemen, where the U.S. military under Mattis and Trump has stepped up airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia group that is fighting against a Saudi-aligned government.

"Our goal is to push this conflict into the U.N.-brokered negotiations to ensure that it ends as soon as possible," Mattis added. "The international community will make progress on it. We'll have to overcome Iran's efforts to destabilize yet another country and create another militia in their image of Lebanese Hezbollah."

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Trump, US allies working to 'checkmate' Iran - Washington Examiner

In Iran, homosexuality is a crime, punishable with death for men and lashings for women. But Iran is also the only Muslim country in the Persian Gulf region that gives trans citizens the right to have their gender identity recognized by the law. In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran not only allows sex reassignment, but also subsidizes it.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran there was no official government policy on transgender people. After the revolution, under the new religious government, transsexuals were placed in the same category as homosexuals, condemned by Islamic leaders and considered illegal.

Things changed largely due to the efforts of Maryam Khatoon Molkara. Molkara was fired from her job, forcible injected with male hormones and put in a psychiatric institution during the 1979 revolution. But thanks to her high-level contacts among Irans influential clerics, she was able to get released. Afterwards, she worked with several religious leader to advocate for trans rights and eventually managed to wrangle a meeting with Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran at the time. Molkara and her group were able to eventually convince Khamenei to pass a fatwa in 1986 declaring gender-confirmation surgery and hormone-replacement therapy religiously acceptable medical procedures.

The Iranian governmentsees trans individuals as people with psychosexual problems, and so provide them with a medical solutionEssentially, Molkara, the Iranian religious leaders she worked, and the Iranian government had reframed the question of trans people. Trans people were no longer discussed as or thought of as deviants, but as having a medical illness (gender identity disorder) with a cure (sex reassignment surgery).

The Iranian government doesnt recognize being trans as a category per se, rather they see trans individuals as people with psychosexual problems, and so provide them with a medical solution, says Kevin Schumacher, a Middle East and North Africa expert with OutRight Action International, a global LGBTIQ-rights organization. The policy is based on Islamic notions that gender is binary and that social responsibilities should be split between men and women. If youre born a man and your body is a female then in order to protect you and the wellbeing of society, says Schumacher says, the government is responsible for fixing the issue.

For Sarah, life in Iran was divided into two very distinct parts: before and after she had gender confirmation surgery.

As a young child growing up in the late 1980s in Tehran, Sarah (who, because she is not openly trans, did not want to publish her full name) was uncomfortable wearing the clothes and playing the games traditionally associated with being a boy, and felt she did not belong at the all-boys school to which her parents sent her. You are alone against all the social norms that dictate what you should do, what you should wear, how you should live, she says.

She was a good student, but in high school, when puberty hit and gender roles grew starker, Sarah began to have difficulty coping with schoolwork and dropped out. I had to deal with sexual harassment from my classmates and from other people in society on a daily basis, from everyone that thought that [I] was a girlish boy, a sissy boy, she says. My life as a teenager was total hell.

Despite the official policy about trans individuals, trans issues are not openly discussed in Iran. And because the government heavily censors material available on the internet (a 2013 analysis found that nearly half of the 500 most popular sites on the internet are blacklisted in Iran) Sarah couldnt research what it means to be transgender or connect with others in the community.

Meanwhile, she felt guilty about her inability to fit in. Everybody expected me to behave like a man and be like a man and I hated to be like that, she says. I wondered why I couldnt be like other people. Why I couldnt meet the social expectations.

At 16, she decided to make a change. If Im not a woman, if Im not a man, I thought at least I should be a productive person and live ahappy life, she says. So she enrolled in university in Tehran, and began to study languages and translation skills. Even though she continued to live as a man, she grew more confident in her gender identity thanks to the more tolerant atmosphere at the university, and from her academic successesthough she was still years away from realizing she was trans.

Officially, an Iranian can be diagnosed as having gender identity disorder only after a complex series of medical tests and legal procedures including obtaining a court order, multiple visits to a psychiatrist, and physical and psychological examinations at the states Legal Medicine Organization. Even if you somehow figure out how to navigate this processand Sarah did notit can take over a year, according to a report compiled by OutRight Action International, a global LGBTIQ-rights organization.

When people do approach doctors in Iran about being transgender, the experience is not always pleasant or helpful. Amir, a 26-year-old trans man from Shiraz, Iran, told OutRight that when he approached a medical professional about his condition, the doctor tried to intimidate him:

It all started when I was eight or nine years old. My parents took me to see a doctor because I kept saying I was a boy. The doctors never talked to me. They just told horrible and terrifying stories to shut me up. They said things like you will die if you undergo [sex reassignment surgery], or many girls who wanted to become boys died during the surgery

All of them treated me like I was delusional. They would tell me: Its not possible, you were born like this. But I knew I had to do this operation and change my sex. I was convinced there was a way and I was just looking for some kind of confirmation, from someone, who would tell me yes, its possible! Instead, one of the doctors gave me pills, and another other one injections. [Another] told me to get out and close the door behind [me], as if I was a dirty and untouchable person.

If an Iranian is officially diagnosed with gender identity disorder, the government issues the authorization for them to legally start the sex reassignment process, and at the end of that process the court issues a new identity card, with a new gender listed. In other words, while Iran does not mandate that all trans individuals have the surgery, it is not possible to change your gender marker on official documents without undergoing the surgery.

Over the last decade, with high-profile clerics and academic centers advocating for trans rights, social awareness on the issue has grown, says Schumacher. In 2007, Molkara established the Iranian Society to Support Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder, the first legally registered trans advocacy group. In 2008, the BBC reported that Iran was second only to Thailand in the number of sex-change operations performed, and the countrys surgery industry still attracts patients from all over the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Between 2006 and 2014, nearly 1,400 people applied for permission for the process according to government figures published in Iranian media.

There are even Iranian movies about accepting trans identities: 2012s Facing Mirrors was something of a social turning point, giving local journalists a chance to address the issue publicly. The films release was even covered by state-run television and radio channels.

I was so scared of the ramifications of what I was going to do, because I thought I [would] lose everyone and everything that I had fought for.Nevertheless, stigmas remain, reinforced by the notion perpetuated by the government that being trans is a medical problem. Outrights report found that trans individuals are often subjected to bullying, domestic violence, and social discrimination. In some cases, family members disown trans relatives. Openly trans people often cant get jobs, and when employers find out an employee is trans they are often fired. Trans individuals cant rent houses or apartments easily and find it hard to get married because families dont welcome the idea of having a trans son- or daughter-in-law.

All of which is why when Sarah finally realized that she was trans, when she was in her early 20s and already graduated from college, she did not feel comfortable coming out in public. Only my family members and few of my close friends knew about it, she says. I had to hide everything.

Making the decision to go through with gender-confirmation surgery was fraught with uncertainty. On one hand I really wanted to do that and be free and liberated from all the problems of my past, says Sarah. On the other hand I was so scared of the ramifications of what I was going to do, because I thought I [would] lose everyone and everything that I had fought for. My university degree, my job, everything. I saw myself having to stand against the entire world.

Practically, she did not have the means to go through with the surgery and live independently. According to OutRights report, the cost of the gender-confirmation surgery in Iran is $13,000 and hormone-replacement therapy costs $20-$40 a monthand the average Iranians monthly income is about $400.

The government does offer some limited financial support for gender-confirmation surgery, hormone-replacement therapy, and psychosocial counseling. But funds are limited and government officials decide on a case-by-case basis which individuals qualify. In 2012, the government announced that health insurance companies must cover the full cost of sex-change operations, according to a BBC report. But OutRight has found that insurance companies still often decline to cover some forms of transition-related care, on the basis that they are cosmetic and not medical.

The government pays a lot of lip service but the actual services that they provide are extremely limited, says Schumacher. You talk to many people and they tell you that they have been waiting for many years, hoping to receive some government assistance for these medical bills, but they are still waiting.

For those who dont get the surgery, life in Iran is exceedingly difficult.

Sharia-based laws mandate segregation of men and women in schools and public transport, and Iranian law requires men and women to wear gender-appropriate clothing in public spaces. Women are expected by law to wear a hijab, which means they must dress modestly and cover their head, arms, and legs. Traditionally, this is interpreted as a long jacket, called a manteau, accompanied by a headscarf. Failure to conform to this is a crime and could result in arrest or assault at the hands of vigilantes.

If their appearance is not completely male or female, they are even stopped in the streets by the moral police in Iran, says Saghi Ghahreman, president of the Iranian Queer Organization based in Canada. These are the undercover agents deployed by the police to patrol public spaces looking for men and women dressed or behaving in a manner deemed un-Islamic, The Guardian reported in 2016. The moral police crack down on loose-fitting headscarves, tight overcoats, shortened trousers for women and necklaces and shorts for men.The laws are often extended to cover new fashions. For instance in 2010 Iran banned ponytails, mullets, and long, gelled hair for men; in 2015 the country cracked down on homosexual and devil worshiping hairstyles along with tattoos, sunbed treatments, and plucked eyebrows for men.

Hasti, a 30-year-old Iranian trans woman from Khansar, told OutRight that she was frequently harassed by Iranian police for her feminine appearance and makeup. The [police] would lift up my dress, look at my ID card and ask me if I was a man or a woman, she said. In the end they would force me to sign a pledge letter [to promise that I would no longer dress as a woman] and then release me.

Because women are expected to get married at a young age and produce children, trans people who have not gone through the surgery are sometimes forced into marriage.

Worse, a trans person who is not legally recognized can be accused of homosexuality and face the death penalty. In fact, in some cases gay people in Iran decide to undergo the surgery because the alternative is death. The sex change operation is most of the time forced on trans people by the culture and by the government, says Ghahreman.

Sarah spent six years preparing mentally and financially to go through with the surgery. She describes that period as one of the darkest phases of her life. I was so depressed and anxious about everything, she says. At that time almost all the transgender people I saw in Iranian society were involved in prostitution, were isolated, were ostracized by the society and their family. I didnt see any successful transgender people. I was afraid if I did it myself, my life would turn into a kind of new misery.

The sex change operation is most of the time forced on trans people by the culture and by the governmentBut she stuck with the plan: she worked in a managerial job, living and dressing like a man, while saving for the surgery. When she had enough money, she decided to travel to Thailand for the surgery; despite the high number of gender confirmation surgeries performed in Iran, the quality of the work is poor. The operations are done by surgeons that are not professionally trained, says Ghahreman. Almost all of the trans people who have operations in Iran are suffering from many side effects that disable their body. Every trans person I have met in the past 10 years, they have a lot of pain because of the surgery and they cannot have normal or pleasurable intercourse.

When she was 28, Sarah had sex reassignment surgery. I turned into a whole new version of myself which I loved so much, she says, likening the process to dying and being reborn. I felt more liberated than what I was in the past. Because in the past I was imprisoned within the framework of my body and my former identity. After the surgery, I got liberated from all those things. For me, anything was better, anything. At least after the surgery I got to enjoy some basic rights that I didnt enjoy before the surgery.

Afterwards, she was surprised to find that almost everyone was very welcoming and very supportive. Sarah had worried government officials would harass her during the legal process after the surgery, but everyone treated me like a saint, she says. They adore me so much and they admire me so much for doing such a courageous thingthey respect me on a whole different level. I didnt even expect thatto be respected by people for being a transgender. But it all happened after the surgery. And, all of a sudden, she could wear the clothes she wanted, change her name, and live the lifestyle of her choice.

I felt I was a monkey at the zoo Not everyone has such a positive experience with Iranian officials. Assal, a trans woman who travelled back from Iran after undergoing the surgery in Thailand told OutRight she was harassed by Iranian border police agents who passed around her medical documents to each other and laughed at her. I felt I was a monkey at the zoo, she told OutRight.

And despite the support, Sarah never came out officially. Instead, she began to live as a woman in Iran. The people who know me from the past, they know that I am a transgender, but the people who know me after the surgery, they have no idea of who I was, she says. They just think that I am a straight woman.

Sarah stayed in Iran for six years after surgery. Now 36, she lives in Canada and works as a freelance journalist and translator. But she returns to the country of her birth frequently, and helped found an organization for trans rights there with Maryam Khatoon Molkara. The culture needs to change, says Sarah. The society needs to change its mindset towards people who not like the mainstream. It doesnt matter if they are gay, bisexual, or trans.

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Everyone treated me like a saintIn Iran, there's only one way to survive as a transgender person - Quartz