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Source: https://usun.state.gov/remarks/8660
Amb. Nikki Haley: Iran's Use of Child Soldiers Is a Moral Outrage
(U.S. Mission to the UN) U.S. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council on Thursday: Some in the international community still labor under the misimpression that the Iranian regime might be a responsible international actor, or might abide by the laws of a civilized society. Many, many things about the Iranian regime contradict this premise. One of the most glaring is the continued use of children to fight and die in Iranian aggression abroad. The use of child soldiers is a moral outrage that every civilized nation rejects, while Iran celebrates it. In the Iran-Iraq War, 36,000 school-aged Iranian children were killed acting as human mine sweepers. The Basij Resistance Force is a paramilitary force operating under Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Basij indoctrinate school children and provide combat training to children as young as 12 years old. These children are then coerced into fighting abroad for the IRGC. The Basij also targets Afghan immigrants in Iran, some as young as 14 years old, to fight in Syria. Last week, we identified the sources of the Basij's funding, and took action to cut them off from the global economy and financial system. The sanctions the United States is leveling against Iran are broad and deep - and for good reason. Any company or individual that does business with this Iranian network is complicit in sending children to die on the battlefields of Syria and elsewhere.