US EditionIran recruits children as young as 12 for military support roles: Report
- On Thursday, Iranian officials announced the minimum age for war-related support roles has been lowered to 12. The initiative, dubbed 'For Iran,' recruits youth to assist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia with checkpoints and patrols.
- Tehran authorities launched the recruitment drive amid ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel. Officials claimed teenagers requested participation, though reports suggest a shortage of willing adult volunteers for frontline militia duties.
- Throughout Tehran, residents reported armed youths manning checkpoints with Uzis or Kalashnikovs. Untrained teenagers seal off areas just 100 meters away after missile strikes, shouting orders at civilians and firing warning shots into the air.
- Recruiting children for military activities violates commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Critics likened the strategy to Berlin's final defense, calling it despicable and a sign Iran is running low on willing adult fighters.
- The recruitment push follows the death of IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri and mounting military losses. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper reported 92 percent of the Iranian navy's large ships have been destroyed and face 'irreversible decline.
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‘Risk children’s lives for some extra manpower’: IRGC recruits 12 year olds to fill personnel gaps
“We launched a plan we call ‘For Iran’, which is a registration program for homeland defense fighters,” Nadali told state media. “We set the minimum age at 12 years and above.”
The Revolutionary Guards launched an official campaign in Iran to recruit children from the age of 12 for what they call the "defense of the homeland". In the midst of war, NGOs denounce...
Iran: Military Stepping Up Child Recruitment
Click to expand Image Iranian security forces stand guard on top of an armored vehicle in Tehran on March 21, 2026. © 2026 AFP via Getty Images (Beirut) – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is conducting a campaign to recruit children as young as 12 to volunteer to become “homeland defending combatants,” Human Rights Watch said today. The military recruitment and use of children is a grave violation of children’s rights and a war c…
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