Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched a programme that enrolls children as young as 12 into security and patrol roles across the country, according to a BBC investigation published on March 31. The report, based on eyewitness testimony gathered despite a government-imposed internet outage, describes armed teenagers and children staffing checkpoints and patrolling city streets as the US-Israeli air campaign enters its second month.
A Child Killed at a Checkpoint
The investigation centres in part on the case of Alireza Jafari, an 11-year-old boy killed alongside his father during an Israeli drone strike on a security checkpoint on March 11. His mother, Sadaf Monfared, told the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri that the family had been helping with Basij volunteer militia patrols at the time of the strike.
The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force controlled by the IRGC with an estimated one million members. It has historically been used for internal security and, most controversially, to suppress domestic dissent, including during the 2009 Green Movement protests and the 2022 Mahsa Amini demonstrations.
The “Homeland Defender Fighters” Programme
An IRGC official publicly announced the creation of the “Homeland Defender Fighters for Iran” programme, which the BBC report identified as the formal mechanism for recruiting minors. IRGC commander Rahim Nadali stated that children are being deployed on patrols and at security checkpoints, with recruitment taking place at mosques and city squares across Iran.
The programme frames participation as voluntary, though the circumstances of wartime recruitment of minors — particularly through military-affiliated institutions — raise questions about the nature of that consent under international humanitarian law.
Eyewitness Accounts From Four Cities
The BBC said it spoke to four eyewitnesses in different Iranian cities despite the government’s ongoing internet restrictions, which have severely limited communications since the start of the conflict. The witnesses described seeing armed minors in security roles across the country:
Golnaz, east Tehran: Reported seeing armed teenagers in the aftermath of an air strike on March 9. She described them as appearing to be in their mid-teens and carrying weapons while moving through a damaged neighbourhood.
Sara, west Tehran: Encountered a teenager with a gun staffing a checkpoint on March 25. She described the individual as “short and slight,” saying it was evident the person was not an adult.
Peyman, Karaj: Witnessed a teenage boy armed with a Kalashnikov rifle at a security checkpoint on March 30, one day before the BBC report was published. Karaj is a major city adjacent to Tehran with a population of over two million.
Tina, Rasht: Saw masked children in a city square on March 14. Despite the face coverings, she told the BBC it was “obvious they are children from their eyes.”
Israel’s Targeting of Basij Checkpoints
Israel has stated that it recently targeted several Basij checkpoints, describing them as part of Iran’s paramilitary infrastructure. The acknowledgement raises additional concerns about the presence of minors at sites that belligerents have identified as military targets. The killing of Alireza Jafari at a checkpoint underscores the risk to children deployed in such roles.
International Law and Expert Response
International humanitarian law places strict restrictions on the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities and 15 as the absolute minimum for any form of military recruitment, with states encouraged to raise that threshold.
There is no excuse for a military recruitment drive targeting children, much less 12-year-olds.
Bill Van Esveld of Human Rights Watch condemned the programme in unequivocal terms. Pegah Banihashemi, a legal scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, noted the legal dimensions of the issue: “Under international law, the use of children in security and military roles is tightly constrained and in many contexts unlawful.”
Holly Dagres of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the recruitment programme “underscores the desperation of the Islamic Republic,” suggesting that Iran is struggling to recruit sufficient adult volunteers for security duties as the air campaign continues.
Context and Background
The Basij has a long history of mobilising young Iranians. During the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, the organisation recruited tens of thousands of minors, some as young as 12, for frontline duties including human-wave attacks and minefield clearance. That history has made the Basij’s wartime recruitment practices a subject of particular scrutiny under international humanitarian law.
The current programme operates in a context where Iranian cities face regular aerial bombardment, infrastructure damage has disrupted daily life, and government communications restrictions make independent verification of conditions on the ground difficult.
Iran has not responded to the BBC’s reporting. The IRGC’s public statements about the programme have framed it as a patriotic volunteer initiative without addressing the legal and ethical concerns raised by the involvement of minors.
The use of children in security roles adds a new dimension to the humanitarian impact of the conflict, which has now killed at least 1,937 people in Iran since the air campaign began on February 28.