In its 2026 report on human trafficking, the US State Department has once again placed the Islamic Republic in Tier 3, the lowest tier, and accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij of recruiting and using child soldiers. According to Kayhan London, the report was published on Thursday, 8 October 2026.
According to the report, the Islamic Republic does not meet the minimum standards for combating human trafficking and is not making serious efforts to do so. The report speaks of a "government policy or pattern" of recruiting or forcibly using child soldiers and of committing trafficking-related crimes.
Child soldiers of the IRGC and Basij
The report says the IRGC has recruited and used children as soldiers and has given financial and operational support to non-state armed groups that forcibly recruit children. Monitors have reported that the IRGC and Basij recruited migrant, refugee and Iranian children to fight in Syria alongside militias under IRGC command. The Islamic Republic also supports Yemen's Houthis, a group known for using child soldiers. According to the report, Afghan, Pakistani and Syrian migrant children are forcibly sent to armed groups in the region.
The report points to a call announced on 26 March 2026 by an official of the IRGC's 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division under the title "Defenders of the Homeland", in which the minimum registration age was 12. The scheme recruits civilians for tasks ranging from cooking and relief work to security duties such as checkpoints, patrols and intelligence work, and registration takes place at mosques that host a Basij base.
Four decades after sending teenagers to the fronts of the Iran-Iraq war, the Islamic Republic still conscripts children into its military and repressive forces.
Use of children in the suppression of the January uprising
According to the report, the Basij used children in suppressing the January uprising on 7 and 8 January 2026, and images of children among Basij forces in earlier crackdowns, including in 2022, had also been published. Monitors also reported a detention facility in Tehran where boys are trained to join the security forces.
The report adds that the Islamic Republic reported no effort to identify trafficking victims, including child soldiers, or to provide them with services, and has no programme to disarm and demobilise child soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans were detained and deported in 2025 without being screened for signs of trafficking, and some detained children faced severe mistreatment. Child marriage and the vulnerability of Iranian and Afghan child labourers and unaccompanied children are also covered in the report.
The report comes as teenagers are also among the victims of repression in Iran, including Omid Ghanouni, a 17-year-old from Khansar, who died in custody after being beaten by Basij forces.
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