Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, announced this week the launch of a campaign to recruit boys as young as 12 to join their forces manning checkpoints and patrols repressing Iranian citizens. The “For Iran” campaign is apparently meant to help with the ongoing repression of dissident Iranians, as well as train Iranians to prepare for any potential American or Israeli ground invasion. While evidence has existed for years that Iran recruits boys into security roles, contrary to international law against the use of child soldiers, this new effort appears to be an escalation intended to expand Tehran’s control over its citizenry.
IRGC official Rahim Nadali reportedly told state media on Thursday that the IRGC is launching the “For Iran” campaign to expand recruitment to the terrorist organization and indoctrinate new members into fighting “the global bully,” referring to the United States. “At the Basij checkpoints and patrols that you see across the cities, we had a very high number of volunteers among young people and teenagers who wanted to participate,” he explained, according to a translation by the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Considering the ages of those requesting to join, we have now lowered the minimum age to 12 years old, because children aged 12-13 want to be involved.”
He reportedly described the jobs open to the younger recruits as “operational patrols” meant to intimidate Iranians and “collecting security data.” Iran using children for its various repressive and terrorist activities is a longstanding policy, though the new campaign appears to be an expansion of it. Speaking to the United Nations in 2018, then-American Ambassador Nikki Haley explained to the Security Council that Iran actively “celebrates” child soldiers, particularly the IRGC. “The Basij Resistance Force is a paramilitary force operating under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” she detailed. “In addition to cracking down on dissidents and enforcing internal security in Iran, the Basij indoctrinate school children and provide combat training to children as young as 12 years old. These children are then coerced into fighting abroad for the IRGC.” (Ed note: And if you don't volunteer, your sister will disappear, and one day you will come home from school, and your mother will be gone.) (Read More)
