Our Persian Site

November 29, 2009

Source:

The commander of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) emphasized in his latest remarks the necessity of increasing Basij’s “political and cultural activities.”  Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Elham, a figure close to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, emphasized the necessity of “capturing economic summit by the Basij.”

In his latest remarks, the IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said, after praising the new Basij chief Mohammad Reza Naghdi, “Today, the name of the Basij organization has changed from the ‘Basij Resistance Force’ to the ‘Downtrodden Basij Organization.’  Since ‘force’ is a word used for military activities, therefore, with the supreme leader’s wisdom, military Basij and non-military Basij were separated from one another.”

Jafari spoke about the separation of “military Basij and non-military Basij” while, according to his remarks three weeks ago, what was known until now as the Basij Resistance Force was incorporated into the IRGC’s ground division.  In his speech yesterday, however, Jafari introduced the “Downtrodden Basij” as the “non-military” wing of the Basij.  According to political experts, this claim of the IRGC chief contradicts his prior claim during Naghdi’s introduction ceremony that the “Downtrodden Basij will carry out half of IRGC’s missions under the new IRGC structure and organization.”  In any case, Basij is still regarded as a military force.

Experts believe that by “half of IRGC’s missions,” Jafari was referring to “resistance against soft war,” which he alluded to again on Saturday, noting, “Today, after the threat of hard war, we face soft war.”  In his speech three weeks ago Jafari also spoke about the role of the Basij in confronting soft war.  Noting that ayatollah Khamenei regards the IRGS as a “cultural, security and military organization,” the IRGC chief had said, “the IRGC faces different missions, and the massive popular Basij force must be utilized at the appropriate time in a manner in tune with the revolution’s needs.”

He had announced that “military units” of the Basij were incorporated into the IRGC’s “ground forces” in provinces, adding, “Provincial IRGC units are charged with confronting hard war, and whenever necessary these units will aid the Basij, but the essential mission of the Basij is to confront soft threats.”

Simultaneous with the IRGC chief’s remarks, Gholamhossein Elham, a member of the Guardian Council and a figure close to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said yesterday at a meeting with Basiji mothers in the province of Mazandaran, “The Basijis must capture economic summits in the period of privatization.”

According to the Fars news agency, this figure close to Ahmadinejad, explained, “Basij must capture factories in the period of privatization and take over the country’s true economic power, not letting it to fall into the hands of certain monopolistic and capitalistic groups in the era of privatization.”