The Killing Of The Youth

It was year 2010, month January; there was two months left till my 17^th birthday, meaning that if I don’t leave the country before then, I am entitled to losing my most valuable possession, my U.S. passport and citizenship. No, it wasn’t because I had to renew it, it was already recently renewed, but this whole situation was because of Iran’s mandatory army service of two years for whoever reaching the age of 17.

Basically, every able bodied male who reaches the age 17 will be blocked from leaving the country until the 2 years service is met, and if the individual citizen is outside the country when turning 17, according to official constitution, they will be designated a “runaway soldier” and can be prosecuted. One positive that Iran has, or had, was the ability to officially buy off the military service, but that offering has been off the table since 9/11 attacks and the rise of terrorist organizations in the region. Luckily there are workarounds with student visas, and I am able to visit Iran for one month, once a year, but the circumstances are extremely risky, and the smallest incident can get me stuck in Iran.

Now Iran’s military mandatory service isn’t a unique or unusual requisite, as many countries such as South Korea, Israel, etc. also have such required services, with the difference being the United States calling essential parts of the Iranian army terrorist organizations. That is despite the Iranian citizens ever being involved in any form of terrorist activity in the world history, the closest case consisting of pure allegation, rather than hard evidence, for a proven mentally ill man in the so called “2011 assassination plot against Saudi ambassador”. The double standard and hypocrisy, however, allows Saudi Wahhabis to freely travel to United States an any time, with every single terrorist and terrorist organization being directly connected to the Wahhabi organization.

Since the Iranian revolution, there has been a hard embargo on Iran, especially by U.S., and that embargo has reached unforeseen heights in the recent years, completely crippling the Iranian economy. Arguably, however, the most damage is inflicted on the Iranian youth, as they have absolutely no opportunity or future career with the economy being shut down. At that point, the have two choices, serve in the military or illegally leave the country, with the latter being plagued with life threatening risks, especially since applying to visa is barely worthy of your time with the Iranian passport being one of the weakest in the world thanks to the embargoes. 

United States policies against Iran have paved the way to not only damage the Iranian economy, but also increasingly destroy the future and prosperity of the Iranian youth, in turn cracking the image of United States in the eyes of the millennial of Iran. I was a lucky one to be born a citizen, but what have my friends done to deserve such treatment?

Ahmad Mir Mohammad Sadeghi