{"id":2403,"date":"2026-04-04T01:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/2403\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:10:21","slug":"iran-guards-recruit-children-to-defend-the-homeland-placing-them-in-line-of-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/2403\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Guards recruit children to \u2018defend the homeland\u2019, placing them in line of fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

The poster shows a teenager standing alongside a Basij militiaman in combat fatigues, his hand over his heart.\u00a0The\u00a0message is clear: all Iranians, including\u00a0youths, are summoned to\u00a0defend\u00a0the Islamic republic<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0it faces wave after wave of US and Israeli attacks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Affiche<\/p>\n

A propaganda poster for the Basij paramilitary force calling on youths to help “defend the homeland”, published by the Iranian news agency ANA. \u00a9 ANA screen grab <\/p>\n

In late March, a month into the Iran war<\/a>,\u00a0a deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards for Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, announced on state television the launch of a\u00a0campaign to recruit citizens \u201caged 12 and over\u201d to become \u201cvolunteer fighters\u201d and \u201cdefend the homeland\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The campaign is aimed at both boys and girls, according to Iranian news agency\u00a0ANA,\u00a0which says\u00a0young recruits could take part in intelligence operations, \u201cidentity checks and\u00a0patrols\u201d,\u00a0as well as carrying out logistical tasks such as preparing meals and\u00a0distributing equipment and supplies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To display this content from Instagram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n

Accept<\/p>\n

Manage my choices<\/p>\n

However, several NGOs\u00a0have warned that\u00a0children are already being used in operational missions on the ground,\u00a0including\u00a0deployment for military\u00a0objectives\u00a0\u2013 such as at security checkpoints \u2013\u00a0that put them in the line of fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Amnesty International said<\/a> eyewitness accounts and verified audiovisual evidence\u00a0showed\u00a0child soldiers\u00a0being\u00a0deployed\u00a0at Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)\u00a0checkpoints and\u00a0patrols,\u00a0armed with weapons, including AK-pattern rifles. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of\u00a0IRGC sites, including Basij facilities,\u00a0across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the\u00a0deployment\u00a0of\u00a0child soldiers\u00a0alongside IRGC personnel or\u00a0in\u00a0their\u00a0facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury,\u201d said\u00a0Amnesty\u2019s Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy,\u00a0Policy\u00a0and Campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fatal drone strike\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Such deployments account for the\u00a0tragic death of 11-year-old Alireza\u00a0Jafari, who\u00a0was killed\u00a0by\u00a0an Israeli drone strike targeting security forces at a checkpoint on\u00a0a Tehran\u00a0motorway\u00a0on March 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To display this content from Instagram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n

Accept<\/p>\n

Manage my choices<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a>\u00a0with Iranian daily\u00a0Hamshahri\u00a0published\u00a0days later, Sadaf\u00a0Manfard, the child\u2019s mother,\u00a0said\u00a0Alireza\u2019s father had told her\u00a0on the night of the attack that he was taking their son to the checkpoint with him\u00a0due to a \u201cshortage of personnel\u201d.\u00a0Alireza would\u00a0thus be\u00a0\u201cprepared for the days ahead\u201d,\u00a0added the father, who\u00a0also died in the attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the interview, the mother also noted\u00a0that teens aged 16 and 17 have\u00a0regularly\u00a0participated\u00a0in street patrols run by the Basij, a voluntary paramilitary force that has played a key role in\u00a0suppressing protest movements over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0multi-faceted militia has a strong presence\u00a0in local communities. It\u00a0frequently\u00a0organises educational,\u00a0religious\u00a0and social activities for young people, particularly in the most deprived neighbourhoods\u00a0where it draws many of its recruits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One\u00a0of the Basij branches, the Basij\u00a0Farhangian\u00a0Organisation,\u00a0confirmed that\u00a0Alireza\u00a0had been killed \u201cwhile\u00a0on\u00a0duty\u201d,\u00a0according to\u00a0Hengaw<\/a>, a Norway-based NGO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March, a Tehran resident contacted by FRANCE\u00a024 expressed horror<\/a> at\u00a0what he described as\u00a0the\u00a0militarisation of the capital.\u00a0He\u00a0recalled seeing\u00a0a \u201cboy stationed at a checkpoint with a weapon who didn\u2019t even have a moustache yet\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

War crime\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Hengaw\u00a0and other human rights groups\u00a0point out that the recruitment or use of children under the age of 15 in the armed forces or in\u00a0warfare\u00a0constitutes a war crime.\u00a0They\u00a0call\u00a0on the UN<\/a> and its children\u2019s fund UNICEF<\/a> to step up legal and diplomatic pressure on Tehran to halt this practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the Geneva Conventions,\u00a0a cornerstone of international law,\u00a0children are entitled to special protection\u00a0and their mobilisation in armed conflicts is\u00a0strictly\u00a0prohibited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Islamic republic, however,\u00a0has\u00a0a track record\u00a0of exploiting minors in military and paramilitary bodies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a\u00a02024\u00a0report<\/a>, the US-based NGO Human Rights Activists in Iran (Hrana)\u00a0exposed the recruitment of vulnerable\u00a0groups, notably Afghan minors,\u00a0to join\u00a0the\u00a0Fatemiyoun\u00a0Division, a paramilitary group fighting in Syria under the auspices of the\u00a0IRGC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more‘Not a one-person regime’: Why Iran’s Islamic Republic is so hard to topple<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drawing on testimonies from former child soldiers,\u00a0Hrana\u00a0highlighted a\u00a0\u201ctroubling pattern of manipulation, where minors and individuals in precarious visa situations are coerced into combat roles under threats of violence or death. Promises of financial compensation and legal status made to them are consistently broken.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2018, the United States imposed sanctions<\/a> on the Bonyad Taavon Basij network,\u00a0a multibillion-dollar financial network that supports Basij\u00a0paramilitary forces.\u00a0Several companies and institutions were\u00a0subsequently\u00a0targeted for providing \u201cfinancial infrastructure to the Basij’s efforts to recruit, train, and indoctrinate child soldiers who are coerced into combat under the IRGC’s direction\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rights groups also documented the use of child soldiers\u00a0in 2011, when Basij units recruited teenagers aged 14 to 16 to help suppress anti-government protests in Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ghosts of Iran-Iraq war\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The Iranian regime has long glorified sacrifice and martyrdom,\u00a0including\u00a0among minors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the Iran-Iraq War (1980\u20131988), children were\u00a0sent to their deaths\u00a0in\u00a0\u201chuman waves\u201d\u00a0designed to clear\u00a0minefields\u00a0and\u00a0allow\u00a0the safe passage of troops.\u00a0Bereaved\u00a0families received financial compensation for each child killed, as well as a martyr\u2019s card entitling them to food and other privileges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iranian boys were indoctrinated from\u00a0a very\u00a0young\u00a0age to take part in the fighting. They were given a \u201ckey to paradise\u201d<\/a>,\u00a0with the promise that they would go straight to heaven if they died as martyrs fighting the Iraqi enemy\u00a0\u2013 a practice described in chilling detail in\u00a0the BBC documentary \u201cFrontline Children\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To display this content from , you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n

Accept<\/p>\n

Manage my choices<\/p>\n

In 1982,\u00a0the regime\u2019s founder\u00a0Ayatollah\u00a0Ruhollah\u00a0Khomeini\u00a0decreed\u00a0that parental consent was not\u00a0required\u00a0for\u00a0children sent\u00a0to the front. He also\u00a0stated\u00a0that\u00a0volunteering for military service was a religious duty, and that service in the armed forces took precedence over any other form of work or study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To this day, it is\u00a0not uncommon\u00a0to see murals in Iran glorifying the deaths of child soldiers.\u00a0One such mural<\/a> in Tehran pays tribute to\u00a013-year-old\u00a0Mohammad Fahmideh,\u00a0who\u00a0detonated his\u00a0belt of grenades after throwing\u00a0himself under an Iraqi tank, and\u00a0is depicted alongside Ayatollah Khomeini.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To display this content from Instagram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n

Accept<\/p>\n

Manage my choices<\/p>\n

The heirs\u00a0to this culture of self-sacrifice\u00a0include some of the most influential figures in the Islamic republic, such as Parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher\u00a0Ghalibaf, who joined the\u00a0fight against Saddam Hussein\u2019s Iraq\u00a0aged 19 and\u00a0subsequently\u00a0climbed up the ranks to become\u00a0a commander of the\u00a0powerful\u00a0Revolutionary Guards, paving the way for his career at the top of the Iranian state.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Decades\u00a0after the end of the Iran-Iraq war,\u00a0and with\u00a0the\u00a0Islamic republic once again fighting for its survival, the official discourse\u00a0remains\u00a0much the same: the sacrifice of children is still celebrated,\u00a0with complete disregard for international law.<\/p>\n

This article was translated from the original in French<\/a> by Benjamin Dodman.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The poster shows a teenager standing alongside a Basij militiaman in combat fatigues, his hand over his heart.\u00a0The\u00a0message…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[807,1207,5,50,309,2389,72,1033],"class_list":{"0":"post-2403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-features","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iran-war","13":"tag-islamic-revolution","14":"tag-middle-east","15":"tag-war-crimes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}