  In several parent iron-pnictide compounds the resistivity has an extended
range of linear magnetic field dependence. We argue that there is a simple and
natural explanation of this behavior. Spin density wave transition leads to
Fermi-surface reconstruction corresponding to strong modification of the
electronic spectrum near the nesting points. It is difficult for quasiparticles
to pass through these points during their orbital motion in magnetic field,
because they must turn sharply. As the area of the Fermi surface affected by
the nesting points increases proportionally to magnetic field, this mechanism
leads to the linear magnetoresistance. The crossover between the quadratic and
linear regimes takes place at the field scale set by the SDW gap and scattering
rate.
