diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6673c237b..518b53e0f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -386,11 +386,10 @@ freebsd-12-x86_64:
     - bash .gitlab-ci/show-execution-environment.sh
   script:
     # We cannot use -Wl,--no-undefined because GLib uses 'environ' variable.
-    # FreeBSD iconv doesn't handle transliteration, so we use (external) GNU libiconv here.
     # FreeBSD supports xattr, but its API is different from Linux xattr.
     # FIXME: extattr(2) support: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/issues/1404
     # localstatedir is needed for access to /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
-    - meson ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Diconv=external -Dxattr=false _build
+    - meson ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Dxattr=false _build
     - ninja -C _build
     - bash -x ./.gitlab-ci/run-tests.sh
   artifacts:
@@ -417,7 +416,7 @@ freebsd-13-x86_64:
   before_script:
     - bash .gitlab-ci/show-execution-environment.sh
   script:
-    - meson ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Diconv=external -Dxattr=false _build
+    - meson ${MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS} --localstatedir=/var -Db_lundef=false -Dxattr=false _build
     - ninja -C _build
     - bash -x ./.gitlab-ci/run-tests.sh
   artifacts:
diff --git a/docs/reference/glib/building.xml b/docs/reference/glib/building.xml
index d165c5c23..62f1c3bc2 100644
--- a/docs/reference/glib/building.xml
+++ b/docs/reference/glib/building.xml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
       On FreeBSD:
       <literallayout>
-        <userinput>env CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib -Wl,--disable-new-dtags" meson -Dxattr=false -Dinstalled_tests=true -Diconv=external -Db_lundef=false _build</userinput>
+        <userinput>env CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib -Wl,--disable-new-dtags" meson -Dxattr=false -Dinstalled_tests=true -Db_lundef=false _build</userinput>
         <userinput>ninja -C _build</userinput>
       </literallayout>
     </para>
@@ -98,16 +98,12 @@
         </para>
         <para>
           If your system has an <function>iconv()</function> implementation but
-          you want to use libiconv instead, you can pass the
-          <option>-Diconv=gnu</option> option to <command>meson</command>. This
-          forces libiconv to be used.
-        </para>
-        <para>
-          Note that if you have libiconv installed in your default include
-          search path (for instance, in <filename>/usr/local/</filename>), but
-          don't enable it, you will get an error while compiling GLib because
-          the <filename>iconv.h</filename> that libiconv installs hides the
-          system iconv.
+          you want to use libiconv instead, make sure it is installed to the
+          default compiler header/library search path (for instance, in
+          <filename>/usr/local/</filename>). The <filename>iconv.h</filename>
+          that libiconv installs hides the system iconv. Meson then detects
+          this, recognizes that the system iconv is unusable and the external
+          one is mandatory, and automatically forces it to be used.
         </para>
         <para>
           If you are using the native iconv implementation on Solaris
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ee0a6234c..424aede80 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1976,28 +1976,12 @@ glibconfig_conf.set10('G_HAVE_GROWING_STACK', growing_stack)
 # We should never use the MinGW C library's iconv because it may not be
 # available in the actual runtime environment. On Windows, we always use
 # the built-in implementation
-iconv_opt = get_option('iconv')
 if host_system == 'windows'
-  libiconv = []
   # We have a #include "win_iconv.c" in gconvert.c on Windows, so we don't need
   # any external library for it
-  if iconv_opt != 'auto'
-    warning('-Diconv was set to @0@, which was ignored')
-  endif
+  libiconv = []
 else
-  found_iconv = false
-  if ['auto', 'libc'].contains(iconv_opt) and cc.has_function('iconv_open')
-    libiconv = []
-    found_iconv = true
-  endif
-  if not found_iconv and ['auto', 'external'].contains(iconv_opt) and cc.has_header_symbol('iconv.h', 'iconv_open')
-    libiconv = [cc.find_library('iconv')]
-    found_iconv = true
-  endif
-
-  if not found_iconv
-    error('iconv implementation "@0@" not found'.format(iconv_opt))
-  endif
+  libiconv = dependency('iconv')
 endif
 
 pcre = dependency('libpcre', version: '>= 8.31', required : false) # Should check for Unicode support, too. FIXME
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index d1859e939..a52eed9d2 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ option('iconv',
        type : 'combo',
        choices : ['auto', 'libc', 'external'],
        value : 'auto',
-       description : 'iconv implementation to use (\'libc\' = \'Part of the C library\'; \'external\' = \'External libiconv\'; \'auto\' = \'Auto-detect which iconv is available\')')
+       deprecated: true,)
 
 option('charsetalias_dir',
        type : 'string',
@@ -116,4 +116,4 @@ option('glib_checks',
 option('libelf',
        type : 'feature',
        value : 'auto',
-       description : 'Enable support for listing and extracting from ELF resource files with gresource tool')
\ No newline at end of file
+       description : 'Enable support for listing and extracting from ELF resource files with gresource tool')