Iran recruits 12 year olds to “defend Homeland”

[Twiglets1]

Reported by the Telegraph that Iran is recruiting children as young as 12 to “defend the homeland” in a new nationwide campaign for the US- Israeli war.

Children will take part in surveillance, patrols and checkpoint inspections under new plans announced last week by the IRGC.

Registration booths have been set up at mosques and major city squares across Tehran, with similar campaigns expected in other cities.

Just days after the new recruitment campaign was launched, an 11 year old boy was killed in a drone strike at a military checkpoint in Tehran.

Alireza Jafari was stationed at the checkpoint, helping his father “to defend Iran”.

The Basij Teachers Organisation confirmed that Alireza was killed “while on duty” performing security tasks in a war that has already claimed nearly 1,600 civilian lives.

Alireza’s death highlighted concerns about the IRGC’s recruitment tactics for wartime security operations and its manpower problems.

The “Defenders of the Homeland Iran” was announced by Rahim Nadali, cultural and artistic director of the IRGC based in Tehran.

Mr Nadali told Iranian media: “ We launched a plan we call For Iran, which is a registration programme for homeland defence fighters … we set the Minimum age of 12 years and above”.

Iran has a huge army so no need to send in children at all.

Any ideology starts young.

Well, exactly. Not sure why pp brought up an entirely different country without an army, that’s not really comparable to Iran.

Yes not a very good comparison.

I think they were struggling to find a way of blaming Israel and the US for the fact that the IRGC have proudly announced a plan to recruit children into the war. Children as young as 12 or younger as long as they look about 12 (see the 11 year old killed in the first post).

What I was trying to do is talk about the complexity of these choices. About the message and possible motivation. History is full of interesting parallels and lessons.

But yes. Iran are the baddies and Israel and the US are the goodies. Against all the weighty evidence to the contrary. Or STUNNING TAKE Iran, the US and Israel are all shit. Which is what everyone not blinded by ideology can see.

The recruitment of children aged 11/12 into war is an IRGC problem.

In this case yes, Iran are the "baddies" that is unequivocal.

Bombing schools?

What complexity is there in this case though? What’s the excuse for recruiting 12-year-olds? Or the motivation?
IRGC are a massive army, aren’t they?

I think you only have to listen to a few Iranian women speak with emotion on this. Idk how people are missing it.

I said, "In this case yes, Iran are the baddies".

It's only Iran who are guilty of what this thread is about.

There are other threads for other topics and the US has been very intensely criticised for the bombing of the school.

I've been to Costa Rica and was told by many that they have no army at all. Everyone was proud of it. Ages ago mind you. I love this story about threatening to send out the boy scouts and then the other side backing down and have chosen it for tonight's rabbithole.

I'm going to a pub quiz soon and very much hoping that question comes up.

The irg is also asking children to inform on their parents so this fits in nicely

Sadly you don’t get 47 years of brutal ideology without adults controlling the young’s views to this extent.

They are being callously and cynically used by the regime. They think they will win or become martyrs. Very sad future for them.

"In a report on the recruitment campaign, external, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it was a "grave violation of children's rights and a war crime when the children are under 15".
"There is no excuse for a military recruitment drive that targets children to sign up, much less 12-year-olds," said Bill Van Esveld of HRW. "What this boils down to is that Iranian authorities are apparently willing to risk children's lives for some extra manpower."
Pegah Banihashemi, an expert in constitutional law and human rights at the University of Chicago Law School, told the BBC: "Under international law, the use of children in security or military roles is tightly constrained and, in many contexts, unlawful."
She also said that their deployment "introduces broader risks to society: untrained minors operating under pressure, often with limited command structure and insufficient understanding of force, can unintentionally escalate violence and endanger civilians".
Holly Dagres, an Iran specialist at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank told the BBC that the use of children at security checkpoints "underscores the desperation of the Islamic Republic".
She said it shows "how deeply unpopular they are with their own population that it is struggling to recruit adults to staff security checkpoints and is resorting to using children in support roles during wartime".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wqgjn7x89o

I saw that report @Ihatetomatoes

So sad when children talk positively about becoming martyrs. Like the 11 year old boy who got killed recently

Alireza's mother said her husband had told her there were not enough personnel at the checkpoint, with "only four people" present. She said he took Alireza with him and said that the boy needed to be "ready for the days ahead".

She quoted her son as saying: "Mum, either we win this war or we become martyrs. God willing, we will win, but I would like to become a martyr."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wqgjn7x89o

I mainly teach year 7. I spend half my day with them every day (not UK). I can’t imagine the boys in my class being sent out to war like that, any more than I can imagine the girls being married off. These kids are still playing with toys. They are so little still. Even the tall ones. It’s beyond fucked up.

It is.

The regime/it's army, would appear to rather to sacrifice it's young men than just agree to no nuclear weapons and live in peace. Is it a power trip? Why do they need to keep on funding terrorist proxy groups to cause mayhem in the middle east and further afield. Let their children grow up as in other middle eastern countries making agreements with other countries and peace.

Totally agree @Bopabopstomp @Ihatetomatoes

Well they used boys younger than that as mine sweepers in the Iran Iraq war. That's common knowledge