US envoy to the UN Security Council Nicky Healy said on Thursday that the Iranian government is using children to fight to impose order, pointing out that the Iranian Basij militia is recruiting children and engaging them in fighting in foreign wars.
In a speech before the UN Security Council, Hely said that countries dealing with the government of Iran as a "normal government" ignore the fact that this government "is not working on the well-being of its citizens, but exploits their children in fighting to impose the power and influence of the regime."
She explained that the children who are trained and armed in the Basij, sometimes reach 12 years, and are attached to the Revolutionary Guards to fight in foreign wars.
She pointed out that Washington recently reached some sources of funding the Basij, and accordingly, has sanctioned 20 institutions funding these militias.
She stressed that Washington considers any non-Iranian institution to deal with those institutions covered by sanctions, "involved in the bloodshed of children in Syria and others."
"The popular discontent of Iranian citizens for wasting their money in these adventures is being suppressed by the use of the same militias," she concluded.
