By | Mar 30, 2026
The Islamic Republic of Iran has lowered the minimum age to 12 for participation in war-related activities. No, it’s not that boys and girls will be sent off to fight. Instead, children as young as 12 will now be used to help man checkpoints, to go on patrols (presumably to watch out for saboteurs, or for signs of discontent and defeatism among the population), and to help with logistics. The Iranian state needs all the help it can get — even from its children. More on this sign of desperation can be found here: “Iran Lowers Minimum Age for War Roles to 12, Sparking Outcry Over Child Soldier Use,” by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, March 26, 2026:
The Iranian regime has lowered the minimum age for participation in war-related activities to just 12 years old, a move that will likely fuel the concerns of human rights groups, which have condemned Iran’s treatment of children.
In a televised interview with state media, Rahim Nadali, a cultural with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, announced that the new initiative “For Iran” is recruiting participants to assist with patrols, checkpoints, and logistics.
“Since children are increasingly volunteering to take part, we have lowered the minimum age to 12,” Nadali said, urging young children to join the war effort if they wish.
Iran International first reported Nadali’s statement, which has since circulated on social media.
As part of the regime’s state media coverage of the US-Israeli war against Iran, this latest announcement has ignited mounting backlash over the use of minors in security?related roles — a practice that is not new in Iran.
“Recruiting children into military activity is a violation of international laws and the international community must not stay silent,” Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad posted on social media, along with video of Nadali’s comments. “This is the same regime that lectures the world about morality. But when it comes to survival? They’re willing to send children into danger.”
In the past, widely circulated social media images and videos have repeatedly shown children and teenagers in military-style uniforms cracking down on protests, including during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, which erupted nationwide after Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, died in a Tehran police station following her arrest for allegedly violating hijab rules.
Under international law, Iran’s move flagrantly violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits the use of children in military activities, marking a dramatic breach of its global obligations.
When a regime decides to call on its children to take part in a war, this is clearly a sign of desperation. This lowering of the age at which children in Iran can take part in the war effort puts one in mind of National Socialist Germany, when in 1945, children as young as 12 were drafted in an effort to defend Berlin and the remnants of the regime. And that is not the only thing about the Iranian regime that should remind us of Nazi Germany.
I guess their representatives on the UNHRC are aware of this.