Children with guns: 12-year-olds trained, armed to man Tehran checkpoints

Image sourced through IranInternational Images published by Iranian state news outlets on Saturday showed children receiving firearms training at a nighttime gathering at Tehran's Azadi Square. This comes amid reports that the Islamic Republic is recruiting minors as young as 12 to man checkpoints and perform security duties during the war.The images come months after an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official announced that the minimum age for participation in war-support activities had been lowered to 12, allowing children aged 12 and 13 to take part in patrols, checkpoints and logistics if they volunteered.The recruitment drive, dubbed "For Iran," has been launched in Tehran to register people to join the security forces. Rahim Nadali, an IRGC official in Tehran, told state television that people as young as 12 could register to help the Guards and the Basij youth volunteer militia stand "against the global bully," a term used for the United States.Residents have reported seeing armed, untrained youths at ad hoc checkpoints across Tehran since the war broke out on February 28 with the United States and Israel."Military pickup trucks with heavy weapons mounted on them block th...