Iranian State TV Airs Weapons Training and IRGC Recruits Children Age 12

Iranian state television IRIB has broadcast weapons training programs showing how to operate and dismantle Kalashnikov rifles, PK machine guns, Dragunov sniper rifles and RPG-7 launchers. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as a live demonstration in which a host fired at the flag of the United Arab Emirates.

Footage also showed weapons training inside mosques in Ahvaz, Kerman, Shiraz and Zahedan, with men, women and children presented as participating voluntarily.

The IRGC formally announced a civilian recruitment campaign on 26 March, setting the minimum enlistment age at 12. Rahim Nadali, deputy of the Mohammad Rasulullah IRGC unit in Tehran, said children aged 12 and 13 had expressed interest in intelligence patrols and checkpoint operations. An IRGC advertising poster showed two children alongside adults in military uniform.

Iranian human rights organisations reported that an 11-year-old boy identified as Alireza Jafari was killed by an Israeli drone strike while manning an IRGC checkpoint in Tehran last Sunday. The boy's mother was quoted as saying his father had taken him to the checkpoint due to a shortage of personnel and that teenagers aged 15 and 16 were regularly present.

The IRGC representative confirmed recruits would be used for checkpoint staffing, operational and intelligence patrols, vehicle convoys and other security activities. Human Rights Watch stated that the recruitment campaign constitutes a grave violation of children's rights and a war crime when the children are under 15.