Arash Aramesh

Brig Gen Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, the commander of Basij forces, said July 28 that his organization was going to build 7,000 new Basij bases throughout Iran. Naghdi said this was going to be an “unprecedented” expansion of the Basij and that the Iranian parliament had already appropriated sufficient funds for this massive expansion.

According to Fars news, a semi-official news agency with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Naghdi said that the province of Zanjan, for instance, would receive an additional one hundred new bases. Zanjan is a relatively small province with about one million residents, most of whom live in rural areas.

Naghdi admitted that Basij forces have played an instrumental role in exposing problems and “reducing social cleavages.” He asserted, “With new Basij bases, the activities of Basij forces will also be elevated.”

The massive expansion of Basij now has a number of reasons. Little over a year ago, the Islamic Republic faced mass demonstrations in major cities. The IRGC and the Basij played a crucial role in quenching the demonstrators. Members of the Basij were accused of opening fire at demonstrators, resulting in the death and injury of many protestors.

The central government in Tehran would also like to increase the Basij’s involvement in rural areas, especially those provinces with major security problem such as Sistan and Baluchestan. This southeastern province has been a real security challenge for the Islamic Republic and the government has been unable to stop kidnappings, car and suicide bombings, and drug trafficking.

A few months ago, for instance, the IRGC Commander of all ground forces was killed by a suicide bomber while visiting the province. Less than two weeks ago, two suicide bombers carried out an attack at a mosque in Zahedan, the capital of the province, and killed a number of people. The IRGC increased its formal troops presence in the region in the past two years, but its failure to adequately address security problems have lead to an open invitation to the Basij forces to come and infiltrate the region.

As a militia, the Basij is not a full-time military organization. Most members of the Basij are recruited to serve in their neighborhoods, thus making it a powerful arm of the government which present in every city, neighborhood, and street.