Hoseyn Taeb, head of the Basij organization in Iran, said at the opening ceremony of the first military training center “Janfadāyān of Iran” that the registrants in this drive will be organized in the form of one thousand battalions.

Videos from the ceremony, held on the first day of Mehr, have been released showing that some of the volunteers who have registered are students.

The “Janfadā for Iran” plan was launched by the government during the war between the United States and Israel with Iran. Enrolling children under the age of 18 is one of the criticisms leveled at this plan.

The Iranian government says more than 31 million people have registered in the program. Opponents of the Iranian government have rejected the accuracy of these figures.