Iranian Brokers List Infants for Sale on Telegram at $1,100
Despite a legal ban, social media channels are advertising babies for cash, with prices ranging from $550 to $2,560 depending on the arrangement.
By Malik Salazar ·
Brokers are currently advertising infants for sale on Telegram channels in Iran, with one listing priced at 3 billion rials, or about $1,100. The offer, posted by a woman who identifies as running a charity, includes ultrasound scans, a birth certificate, and a national ID. Payment is due only after the physical handover of the child.
A review of these channels by RFE/RL Radio Farda found that the trade persists despite a legal ban on selling children. Brokers use the language of adoption and charity to solicit payments in the billions of rials. Some intermediaries offer to register a baby’s birth to a woman who is not the biological mother, while others arrange placements with Iranian families living abroad.
One Telegram administrator, who calls herself 'The Doctor,' told Radio Farda that she places abandoned newborns with adoptive families. 'I would rather the babies go to families than to Behzisti,' she said, referring to the State Welfare Organization. She claimed buyers could choose the sex of a baby under 10 days old and that the infants were healthy with no history of addiction in their parents. She stated that medical records and IDs could be arranged to list the buyers as parents, a process she described as confidential. Radio Farda could not independently verify these claims.
The process begins with buyers submitting identity documents and opening a file for a fee of 200 million rials, or about $75. In a separate exchange, the same administrator quoted a price of 3 billion rials for a baby boy. She described the sum as a 'gift' covering legal steps, hospital bills, and support for the birth family. Her account of the babies' origins shifted during the conversation, moving from abandoned newborns to children of poor families.
A nurse at a state hospital described a 2021 deal where a birth mother with four children agreed to hand over her fifth child for 700 million rials, roughly $2,560 at the time. The prospective family paid for the mother's doctor visits and ultrasounds. According to the nurse, the ultrasound records were registered under the adoptive mother's name, and the baby girl was discharged from the hospital under that name. The two women never met, and the child was taken to the United States about a month after birth.
The nurse noted that some families use makeup and staged photos to make it appear as though the adoptive mother carried the pregnancy. While Iranian law allows families abroad to apply for guardianship through diplomatic missions, some avoid that route. Another broker, referred to as 'Miss Doctor,' said she welcomes placements with Iranians abroad but requires someone inside Iran to handle paperwork. She charged 100 million rials to open a file for a single baby and an extra 300 million rials for twins.
A nurse at a state maternity ward said her hospital transfers at least two newborns a month to Behzisti, mostly because of maternal addiction or poverty. Iranian authorities have acknowledged the problem for years. In January 2022, a senior Behzisti official said baby sales were rising and sometimes arranged before birth. The following month, Tehran's cyberpolice announced the arrest of a group that had offered babies online for 1.2 billion rials. More than four years later, similar offers continue to circulate on Telegram.
