Iran’s Supreme Leader says Iran’s elite are all Bassijis

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Nov. 28 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that all the senior positions of power in the Islamic Republic were being held by the Bassij. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 28 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that all the senior positions of power in the Islamic Republic were being held by the Bassij.

Khamenei was speaking to a gathering of senior commanders and the rank-and-file of the para-military Bassij force.

The Bassij, radical Islamists loyal to the Supreme Leader, are an off-shoot of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and were given police powers earlier this year following the presidency of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They have gained notoriety since the early days of the 1979 Islamic revolution for acting as the theocratic regime’s “shook troops” to quell anti-government protests and beating up anyone who publicly voiced opposition to the Supreme Leader.

“The Bassij culture can be instrumental in all aspects of the country and guarantee the movement of the country. Fortunately, today, the government, the President, the Majlis (Parliament), and all the country’s officials take pride in being Bassijis”, Khamenei said, during his address.

He said that the world was suffering from the lack of morality, idealism, and human values in the West, adding that the Islamic Republic was the first Muslim country in centuries to put forth such virtues.