Iran wants more "martyrs" for future jihad, so it restricts birth control

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei with wife #3)

...The framework of legislation that would ban abortions, vasectomies, tubectomies, and any form of sterilization passed. Convicted offenders would face lengthy prison terms. Also included in the bill was a prohibition on any advertisement that promotes decreases in the birth rate.

Lawmakers have not yet clarified who will be punished -- health care providers or patients who choose to undertake these procedures.

The move is a response to calls from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to increase the country’s population, which rapidly grew in the years following the 1979 revolution.

(This item is a month and a half old, but is suddenly trending because the Guardian just noticed it. The Washington Post had it in June.)