A recent study issued by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs shows that the Islamic Republic, led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, profits from the trafficking of Iranian women for sexual exploitation, along with undocumented migrants, children, and refugees, to bankroll its proxy conflicts throughout the region.

Ella Rosenberg, a senior research fellow at the JCFA and participant in the Dvorah Forum, explained that Iran's statutes enable the regime to appear aligned with global anti-trafficking rules while depending on weak laws that fall below international benchmarks and leave victims unprotected.

She pointed out that the Islamic Republic merges human trafficking with migrant smuggling and has declined to endorse the 2000 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, known as the Palermo Protocol.

IRGC Gains Directly from Sex Trafficking Networks, Study Shows

Rosenberg further stated that the IRGC profits directly from human trafficking. She described how the corps draws major revenue from the sex trade, which the regime often enables via temporary marriages.

She characterized Iran as a source, transit, and destination nation for the sex trafficking of women and girls, driven by widespread poverty, entrenched corruption, and poor economic policies.

Rosenberg noted that Article 1041 of Iran's Civil Code, allowing girls to wed at age 13 and younger with parental and court consent, has normalized the sexual abuse of minors. She also connected the practice of nikah mut'ah, or temporary marriage for a set time, to increased risks for women and girls drawn into trafficking rings.

Trafficking groups transport victims inside Iran and into nearby states such as Iraq, often with IRGC assistance, Rosenberg said. She maintained that such large-scale cross-border operations would be impossible without the corps' involvement, given its control over borders and security checks at airports and checkpoints.

Human rights organizations including IHR Monitor and HRANA have recorded claims that IRGC officers take bribes to allow trafficking victims through. Rosenberg added that the IRGC earns directly by taxing the commercial sex industry.

IRGC Targets Afghan and Pakistani Refugees for Recruitment

The JCFA report also asserted that the IRGC's Quds Force and the Basij use trafficking of undocumented migrants, refugees, and children to keep proxy wars going across the Middle East.

The IRGC preys on vulnerable groups, especially Afghan and Pakistani refugees, recruiting fighters via deception, money pressure, and deportation threats, Rosenberg argued. Those taken from these communities are forced into groups such as the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun brigades for service in places like Iraq.

In breach of international standards, the Basij routinely enlists and pressures Iranian children from age 12 into military training and combat support roles. This amounts to a serious form of trafficking, exploiting children's weaknesses to place them in dangerous, forced military work. While the JCFA flags abuse starting at age 12, prior reports have noted the death of an 11-year-old Basij member at an Iranian checkpoint.

Rather than earning direct revenue from moving vulnerable people into IRGC ranks, Rosenberg framed the benefit as cost savings. By sending underpaid or unpaid recruits from these groups instead of trained IRGC personnel, the regime avoids paying salaries and training costs for its own forces.

These moves are thought to spare the Islamic Republic billions in defense spending, allowing the money to flow instead to IRGC business holdings and terror support networks.

Iran's taxation approach also lets it profit from migrants traveling from Pakistan and Afghanistan toward Europe via Iran and Turkey.

These migrants often face debt bondage, extortion, and forced work in Iran's unofficial farming and building sectors to cover high smuggling fees paid by criminal groups that bribe the IRGC. This activity alone is believed to produce billions for Iran's hidden economy.

Focus on Nuclear Issues May Overlook IRGC Trafficking Profits

Rosenberg observed that Iran sustains these practices because EU and US sanctions have centered mainly on Tehran's nuclear advances, missile programs, backing of regional militancy, and crackdowns at home. Continued failure to target the IRGC and its trafficking front companies gives the regime ongoing support.

Because trafficking funds are often cash-based, Rosenberg warned that global systems struggle to track the full scale of Iran's gains. Those aiding or shielding the regime-linked networks can still move freely, use banks, and run front firms without asset blocks or warrants.

To curb Iran's trafficking profits, Rosenberg recommended that the US Treasury apply the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to name IRGC border officers, Basij recruiters, and complicit Iranian police for their parts in labor and sex trafficking.

She urged the European Commission to use the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive to push European banks to watch illicit money flows from Iranian trafficking networks more closely.