IRAN'S REGIME EXPLOITS ITS YOUTH...
At the height of the U.S.-Israeli aerial campaign, and in anticipation of a potential U.S. ground offensive, the Islamic Republic began to recruit kids as young as 12. Back in March, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander announced on state television that the clerical army was seeking to recruit boys and girls "aged 12 and over" to serve as "volunteer fighters" and "defend the homeland."
The initiative, experts and activists note, puts the Iranian regime in direct violation of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Islamic Republic is a signatory. More broadly, it reflects a willingness to normalize the mobilization of increasingly young populations in the service of state military objectives.
More recently, with a tenuous ceasefire with the United States now in place, Iran has begun using minors for another purpose: crowd control and intimidation. A new expose by Al Hurra notes that the IRGC and its feared Basij domestic militia are deploying "armed children aged between 10 and 17" for an "intelligence-related" mission. These children are tasked with "spying on Iranians, monitoring them, and arresting citizens on charges of espionage or collaboration with the United States and Israel." (France24, March 4, 2026; Iran International, March 26, 2026; Al Hurra, April 20, 2026)
...AND HARNESSES FOREIGN FIGHTERS
At the same time, the IRGC has begun deploying foreign proxy militias inside the country to provide added protection against a potential domestic uprising. The Fatemiyoun Brigade, drawn from Afghan Shi'a recruits, and the Zainebiyoun Brigade, composed of Pakistani Shi'a members, along with several Iraqi factions, reportedly have been repositioned from Iraq into Iran and assigned internal security responsibilities across geographically distinct zones of the country. The move reflects the IRGC's assessment of its own weakened position following the forty-day conflict with the United States and Israel. With significant losses to personnel and infrastructure, and with military morale reportedly deteriorating, the regime appears to have concluded that its domestic security apparatus alone cannot be relied upon to contain potential internal unrest. (Al Hurra, April 16, 2026)
THE IRGC'S EXPANDING EUROPEAN FOOTPRINT
Iran's clerical army has been steadily expanding its covert operational presence across Europe, a trend that has accelerated against the backdrop of the country's military confrontation with the United States. Iranian activists and opposition figures say that the IRGC has shifted toward a more decentralized and deniable model of foreign operations — one that blends organized crime networks, front organizations, and prepositioned military hardware in order to project power well beyond Iran's territorial borders.
The Quds Force, the IRGC's paramilitary arm, reportedly uses two primary methods to transfer weapons and military materiel to Europe. "The first method involves transporting them in disassembled form as separate spare parts, so as not to raise suspicion at border crossings and airports," Al Hurra reports. "Some of these are transported under diplomatic cover by members of the Iranian diplomatic corps." The second method entails "organized smuggling operations overseen and carried out by international gangs affiliated with the IRGC." (Al Hurra, April 6, 2026)
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