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 countrys back-up police force.
