Iran gives heavy arms to para-military vigilantes

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 16 – Iran will soon arm the para-military Bassij force with heavy and medium-sized weapons, the country’s state-run press reported on Saturday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 16 – Iran will soon arm the para-military Bassij force with heavy and medium-sized weapons, the country’s state-run press reported on Saturday.

The commander of the Bassij in Tehran was quoted as saying, “As foreseen, 30 percent of the Bassij Ashura Garrison must be armed with heavy and medium-sized weapons”.

The Bassij commander added that after the Majlis, or Parliament, approved the idea, the force would be armed by the end of the current year.

The Bassij – affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – are lightly-armed hard-line Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and were recently given new powers to act as the country’s back-up police force.