Add The New York Post on Google Iran has launched a new military recruitment drive aimed at boys between the ages of 12 and 15 as part of the Islamic republic’s “self-sacrifice” campaign.
Campaign spokesperson Sasan Zare said age 15 and up have begun the military training, and due to high demand, “special training appropriate for younger ages will also be arranged,” the Iranian Labor News Agency reported.
The training is set to begin this week as part of Iran’s Janfada, or self-sacrifice, campaign, which touts the slogan, “We have one life, and we give it for Iran,” Zare told the outlet.
The training would see the children learning the basics of “ensuring local security, general war preparations, observation, surveillance, and intelligence measures,” Zare added.
It would also include teaching the kids how to pilot drones and even how to fire shoulder-mounted weapons.
The training will reportedly be overseen by the Basij security force, Iran’s volunteer militia that oversaw the brutal crackdown on protesters in January.
Zare claimed that 31 million Iranians had enlisted as part of the campaign, about a third of the country’s population, with 26% allegedly signing up for military and security duties.
It remains unclear if the children will be automatically recruited into Iran’s security forces once they complete the training.
While it is against international humanitarian law to recruit minors under the age of 15 into the armed forces, Iran has been accused of using children in its army.
Back in March, Rahim Nadali, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, announced that children as young as 12 could volunteer for the interior security forces.
Since then, witness accounts have emerged of child soldiers deployed at IRGC checkpoints and patrols armed with automatic weapons, according to Amnesty International.
Among the children was Alireza Jafari, 11, who was killed during an incident at one such checkpoint, with the Basij confirming that the boy was “serving” when he died, according to Iranian state media.
The boy’s mother told reporters that her husband said there was a “shortage of personnel” at the checkpoint and took his sons to the post, including a nine-year-old boy.
