Adolescent Day: From the Fahmideh Myth to the Use of Children in War

The eighth of Aban is designated “Adolescent Day” in Iran, an occasion tied to the anniversary of the death of Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh, a thirteen-year-old killed in the Iran–Iraq War. From its earliest years, the Islamic Republic turned his name and image into a symbol of adolescent self-sacrifice. But this symbolism is not confined to the past. In the recent war, IRGC officials have also spoken of using adolescents on patrols and at checkpoints, where their presence in dangerous locations can put their own lives and those of others at risk.

This article asks more than how Fahmideh died. The more important question is: what responsibility does a government that turns an adolescent into a war hero bear for protecting his life and future?

From the Official Narrative to Questions About Evidence

The Islamic Republic's official account says Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh strapped grenades to himself in Khorramshahr, approached an Iraqi tank and died blowing it up. In a public message, Khomeini called this adolescent a “leader”, turning his story into a model for the younger generation. In 1996, the eighth of Aban was also formally designated Adolescent Day in Iran.

The details of the familiar account have nevertheless faced questions. IranWire reported that Saeed Fakhrzadeh, an oral-history researcher commissioned to investigate the story, said that despite his searches, he found no Khorramshahr combatant who could confirm the account of Fahmideh going under a tank. According to him, some fighters said they had not witnessed such an event, while Fahmideh's family had also heard the details from others. This statement alone does not establish that the official narrative was fabricated. It does, however, show that the report identifies no known, independent witness who can substantiate its details.

Some pupils of that period also recalled a joke about Fahmideh's final moments: “Hajji, don't push me!” This sentence is neither historical evidence nor a recorded voice. It can, however, be included as a recollection of the language and reactions of his contemporaries, suggesting that even at school the official heroic account was not always accepted without question.

A Child on the Battlefield

According to figures published by IRNA and quoted by IranWire, more than 550,000 Basij school pupils took part in the Iran–Iraq War, and more than 36,000 of them were killed. Amnesty International has also repeated these figures as statistics announced by official Iranian sources. But being a “school pupil” does not establish an individual's precise age. These statistics do not tell us how many were under eighteen or under fifteen, how many directly participated in combat, and who performed support duties. The figure of 36,000 should therefore not be equated, without explanation, with the number of child soldiers killed.

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, anyone under eighteen is considered a child. The usual United Nations definition of adolescence covers ages ten to nineteen, but adolescents aged ten to seventeen are still children. This distinction matters because the word “adolescent” must not conceal a person's childhood or the state's responsibility to protect them.

From the Iran–Iraq War to Today's Checkpoints

On 26 March 2026, Rahim Nadali, a Tehran IRGC official, announced that twelve- and thirteen-year-olds could take part in a scheme involving intelligence and operational patrols, checkpoints and support activities. Human Rights Watch described this recruitment as a serious violation of children's rights and warned that children at military facilities face death and injury. After examining photographs and videos, Amnesty International also reported armed children alongside IRGC and Basij personnel at checkpoints and on patrols. Human rights organisations have also cited witnesses reporting adolescents at checkpoints in Isfahan.

The label “volunteer” does not remove the danger. Whether a child enters such a situation through direct pressure, propaganda, personnel shortages or an ideological environment, the state's duty to protect them remains. A checkpoint is a place of confrontation and tension. An armed, untrained adolescent may become a target or unintentionally endanger civilians. The death of Alireza Jafari, an eleven-year-old who was with his father at a Tehran checkpoint and was killed in an attack, showed that this danger is not hypothetical. Iranian authorities confirmed that he died while “serving” at a checkpoint.

Protecting children is not an issue confined to the battlefield. Amnesty International recorded that at least 97 people in Iran were executed between 1990 and 2018 for offences committed before the age of eighteen. Annual reports also describe these executions continuing in 2024 and 2025. The relevant age in these cases is the age at the time of the offence, not at execution. These statistics recall a bitter contradiction: a government that rhetorically turns adolescents into symbols of sacrifice has, in practice, failed to guarantee children's rights and safety.

If Adolescent Day is intended to remind us of young people's value, it should be an opportunity to question policies that turn them into instruments of war, spectacle and propaganda. Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh, the Basij pupils killed in the war, and the children deployed at checkpoints today are not identical cases. But all raise a common question: why should the lives of children who could build the country's future be put at risk for political and ideological purposes? No myth, war slogan or political objective can take the place of a child's right to life, safety and a future.