BBC News

Single workers at one of Iran's major state-owned companies have been told to marry by September or face being fired, Iranian newspapers have reported.

The Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Company employs thousands of people, mostly young men, on Iran's Gulf coast.

Being married is a job requirement, a directive from the company is reported as saying.

Correspondents say the ruling appears to be an attempt to reduce the number of prostitutes working in the area.

The company controls Iran's large network of gas and petrochemical facilities around the coastal city of Assalouyeh on the Gulf coast.

Its directive, according to the Etemad newspaper, says that despite requests "some of our colleagues did not fulfil their commitments and are still single".

It continues: "As being married is one of the criteria of employment, we are announcing for the last time that all the female and male colleagues have until September 21 to go ahead with this important and moral religious duty."

In the same vein, the governor of the eastern province of North Khorasan ruled recently that only married people would be hired for official posts in the region.

Economic difficulties in Iran have led many people to postpone getting married, despite sexual relations being illegal outside marriage.

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