Proposal seeks to streamline national service registration process but raises fears about prospect of young Americans being called up and sent to Iran should current conflict drag on or escalate

The United States is planning to automatically register all eligible men aged 18 to 25 into a military draft pool under a proposed rule change that would come into effect in December if approved.

The proposal was put forward by the Selective Service System, a quasi-independent agency separate from the Department of Defense, that maintains a database of young American males potentially eligible for military service, raising fears about the prospect of mandatory call-ups returning should the Iran conflict drag on and escalate.

Most men within the qualifying age bracket are already required to register but the shift to automatic registration was mandated in December as part of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

“This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources,” the agency’s website states of the proposal submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30, which is now awaiting finalization.

The Independent has reached out to the White House, Pentagon, and SSS for comment.

The U.S. has imposed a wartime draft in six conflicts during its history: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

An estimated 1.8 million Americans were called up during the deeply-unpopular Vietnam conflict but military service has been voluntary since 1973. It would take an amendment to the Military Selective Service Act by act of Congress to change that now.

Under the current system, failure to register is considered a crime that carries a $250,000 fine and the threat of a five-year jail term plus the loss of access to state-funded financial aid and employment in numerous states, although, in practice, it is seldom prosecuted.

Women, for now, remain ineligible for the draft, despite lawmakers attempting unsuccessfully to attach provisions mandating their inclusion onto annual defense policy bills on several occasions.

Early on in the Iran conflict last month, President Donald Trump refused to rule out putting boots on the ground in the Middle East, despite having repeatedly promised an end to “forever wars” during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a similarly non-committal answer when he told CBS’s 60 Minutes: “You don’t tell the enemy, you don’t tell the press, you don’t tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation.”

Their responses prompted Maria Bartiromo to ask White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during an appearance on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures about U.S. soldiers being sent into Iran.

“President Trump wisely does not remove options off of the table,” Leavitt answered. “I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly but the president as commander in chief wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation.

“It’s not part of the current plan right now but again the president wisely keeps his options on the table.”

Her reply attracted a furious response from former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, among others, providing a preview of the resistance the administration would be likely to encounter from within Trump’s own MAGA base should it move to call up young men or place U.S. troops in harm’s way in Iran.

Not only did the president pledge not to enter into any further costly and drawn out overseas wars during his run for the White House, he also used the prospect of the draft’s return as a stick with which to beat Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

“She’s already talking about bringing back the draft,” he told his supporters at a September 2024 rally in Las Vegas.

“She wants to bring back the draft, and draft your child, and put them in a war that should never have happened.”

A week before Election Day, he told another crowd in Atlanta: “All of your sons and daughters will end up getting a draft notice.

“Congratulations, you’ve been drafted in the military. You’re going to fight a war against a country that nobody’s ever heard of.’ Isn’t it true? Isn’t it ridiculous?”