You are probably both right. Iran has some type of gender recognition since the 1980s, but it assumes a binary, is medicalist, and is not up-to-date with modern guidelines, such as self-determination, non-binary options, and removal of medical gatekeeping and mandatory surgeries (which are human rights violations). Post-op trans people have it relatively better in terms of social inclusion, but we must understand that prejudice and bias is a complex thing. This is not removed by any law, take the black liberation movement in the US for example. Even though slavery was abolished and civil rights were given later, to this day the cancer of racism has not left the country, and this is reflected in incarceration rates too. Being myself transgender and having had skirmishes with the law both before and after transition, I know first hand that as a perceived majority person one enjoys a level of leniency, but when being in the minority people want to make a point that “you don’t get preferential treatment for being trans”, and use the law in its full extent, which is the informal equivalent of mandatory minimums.