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Iran is targeting the recruitment of children as young as 12 in military-linked roles with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to new reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
These reports underscore the growing pressure within Iran’s war effort. As US and Israeli strikes intensify, rights groups and analysts say child labor points to labor shortages and a growing reliance on armed forces to wage war. It also increases the human cost of the conflict, putting children in direct danger while exposing Iran to possible war crimes.
Human Rights Watch said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a campaign called “Homeland Defending Combators for Iran,” lowering the recruitment age to 12 and encouraging children to enroll in churches and the Basij, a volunteer military force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The roles go beyond support duties and include “operational patrols,” personnel checkpoints and intelligence operations, putting children directly in harm’s way as fighting rages across the country.
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Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard during a demonstration. The IRGC has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department. A major part of its mission is to operate covertly outside of Iran. (Reuters)
Amnesty International said the recruitment and trafficking of children under the age of 15 is a “war crime,” and backed its findings with corroborated physical evidence and eyewitness accounts.
The agency analyzed 16 photos and videos published since Saturday, showing children carrying weapons, including AK-pattern rifles, and planted alongside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij soldiers at checkpoints, checkpoints and government-organized exhibitions in Iranian cities including Tehran, Mashhad and Kermanshah.
Amnesty also documented the deadly consequences. On Sunday, Alireza Jafari, 11, was killed at a checkpoint in Iran while accompanying his father, a member of the Basij, the group said. Authorities say he was killed “in action” following an Israeli drone strike.
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Iranian soldiers take part in a military parade during a ceremony to celebrate the country’s armed forces day on April 17, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. (Getty Images)
According to Amnesty, the boy’s mother told the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri that her husband reported a shortage of workers at the checkpoints and left with their two sons. He said he told their son that he “must prepare himself for the days ahead,” adding that 15- and 16-year-olds are used to doing scouting jobs.
Eyewitness accounts reviewed by Amnesty describe children who appear to struggle to handle weapons. One person in Tehran wrote:
On March 25, “I saw a child at a checkpoint near my home … I think he was about 15 years old … He seemed to be struggling to breathe from the effort to lift the gun.”
Another witness in Karaj, Iran, reported seeing a child “holding a Kalashnikov rifle,” while a third in Rasht said others appeared to be “as young as 13 years old,” warning that they “would shoot at anyone.”
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Children wave Iranian flags during a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019.
In another video cited by Amnesty, recorded on March 30 in Mashhad, Iran, two children dressed in Basij uniforms and balaclavas are seen holding guns while standing in a moving car during a planned state rally, towering over a cheering crowd.
The recruitment drive itself has been promoted through official channels, including posters showing children next to armed adults under the slogan “Basij with people, for people,” accompanied by a quote attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader saying that the Basij forces remain at the heart of the revolution.
Iranian officials have defended the policy by pointing to what they describe as a strong demand among young people.
In a televised interview with Iran’s state media, IRGC chief Rahim Nadali said the age was set at 12 because “teenagers and young people come many times saying they want to participate.”
“There is no excuse for a conscription campaign targeting children to enlist, let alone 12 years old,” said Bill Van Esveld of Human Rights Watch.
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Iranian schoolboys wear Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military uniforms and shout slogans against the US and Israel during a ceremony to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery south of Tehran, February 26, Feb. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The reports come as the United Nations classifies the recruitment of children in conflicts as a “grave violation,” with international law prohibiting the enlistment of children under the age of 15 and setting 18 as the minimum age for participation in hostilities.
Both organizations called on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop child labor and release those already working.
Iran’s mission at the United Nations declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
