Anonymousabout 2 hours ago
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has formally lowered its recruitment age to 12 under a campaign called "Homeland Defending Combatants for Iran," deploying children at armed checkpoints and patrols as personnel shortages mount. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented verified cases including the death of 11-year-old Alireza Jafari at a Tehran checkpoint, calling the practice a war crime under customary international humanitarian law. The recruitment echoes Iran's decades-long pattern of using minors — including Afghan refugee children sent to fight in Syria — while international accountability mechanisms remain largely ineffective.