Iran: Recruitment of Child Soldiers as Young as 12 Amounts to War Crime

Amnesty International has reported that Iranian authorities are committing a war crime by recruiting and mobilizing children as young as 12 into a military campaign led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of Iran’s armed forces.

The recruitment campaign, titled Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran, was announced on 26 March 2026 by Rahim Nadali, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran. Nadali stated that the campaign is open to volunteers aged 12 and above, with registrations encouraged at Basij bases located in mosques across Tehran.

The IRGC has assigned these recruits to various operational and security activities. These tasks include checkpoint duties, patrols, the distribution of equipment and supplies, logistical support, and assistance with medical, food, and relief tasks.

Evidence provided by Amnesty International includes an analysis of 16 photos and videos posted online since 21 March 2026. The footage shows children wielding AK-pattern assault rifles and standing alongside IRGC forces at checkpoints and patrols in Kermanshah, Mashhad, and Tehran, as well as during state-organized militarized rallies.

In one video filmed on 30 March 2026 at Shariati Square in Mashhad, two children in Basij camouflage uniforms and balaclavas were seen carrying AK-pattern assault rifles while positioned on a vehicle during a rally.

The human cost of these deployments was highlighted on 29 March 2026, when 11-year-old Alireza Jafari was killed at a checkpoint in Tehran. Authorities confirmed the child was killed during an Israeli drone attack while serving at the checkpoint alongside his father, a member of the IRGC’s Basij.

The boy’s mother told Hamshahri newspaper that her husband had taken Alireza and his nine-year-old brother to the checkpoint due to a shortage of personnel, stating that Alireza must get prepared for the days ahead.

Further evidence was provided by Ghoncheh Habibiazad, a senior reporter for BBC Persian Forensic, who shared text messages from eyewitnesses in Rasht, Karaj, and Tehran. One witness in Rasht reported seeing children as young as 13 standing in front of mosques, while a witness in Karaj observed a child of approximately 16 holding a Kalashnikov rifle on 27 March 2026.

Legal Framework and International Law

The recruitment is facilitated by the IRGC Recruitment Regulations Law. Article 93 of this law allows children under 15 to become ordinary Basijis, effectively establishing no minimum age for enlistment. Article 94 allows those aged 15 and above to qualify as active Basijis, and Article 16 permits children as young as 16 to become special Basijis or honorary guards.

While authorities describe Basij units as popular forces, they are not strictly voluntary. Members receive financial compensation and preferential access to loans, housing, and higher education admissions. Amnesty International notes that these incentives increase the risk of recruitment for children from impoverished communities facing severe economic hardship.

The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military. Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns

Iran is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the recruitment of children under 15. Customary international humanitarian law, which is legally binding on Iran, classifies the conscription or enlistment of children under 15 into armed forces as a war crime.

Conflict Context and History

The current mobilization occurs amid ongoing hostilities. Erika Guevara-Rosas stated that the deployment of child soldiers puts them at grave risk of death and injury as US and Israeli strikes have hit thousands of IRGC sites and Basij facilities, including through drone attacks on security checkpoints.

Iranian authorities report that Israeli-USA strikes have killed more than 1,900 people, including 216 children and 249 women. This includes a USA strike on a school in Minab that killed 168 people, including over 100 children. Conversely, attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran have killed at least 16 people in Israel, four in the West Bank, and 23 in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

Amnesty International notes that Iran has a history of such violations. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Iranian authorities admitted that over 550,000 children were sent as child soldiers, with at least 36,000 of them killed.

Amnesty International has called for the immediate prohibition of the recruitment of anyone under 18 by the armed forces and the immediate release of all existing members under that age.