Iran: Return of Political Neighborhood Policing

In the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the collapse of the Imperial Police, and the Imperial Army’s declaration of neutrality in the course of the revolution, “Islamic Revolution Committees” emerged to fill the power vacuum and enforce political policing at the neighborhood level. By 1991, the committees were merged with the police under the name of the Islamic Republic Law Enforcement Forces. Nevertheless, certain neighborhood mosques were transformed into local headquarters for the Basij Resistance Force, which served as an ideological counterbalance to the Law Enforcement Forces. Facing widespread public discontent and latent anti-regime sentiments that can come up to the surface at any time, Iran is investing in establishing “democratic Islamic neighborhoods,” marking a return to the Islamic Revolution Committees and political neighborhood policing.

• July 16: While addressing a Basij seminar, Brigadier General 2nd Class Heydar Baba-Ahmadi, chief of the Basij of the Oppressed’s mosque and neighborhood unit, said, according to Basij News, the official mouthpiece of the organization: “The regime is inclined to form an Islamic society and neighborhood with the ultimate goal of establishing Islamic and democratic governance led by the Imam of the Era, may God hasten his return. This issue constitutes the core of the plan of the Neighborhood Basij Directorate and encompasses all 60,000 neighborhood Basij bases in the country. In doing so, they will be the vanguard of producing soft power and realizing democratic Islamic neighborhoods … Alongside this great nationwide plan, the Basij is establishing mosques with the help of local imams. Over the past year, 1,270 Basij mosque bases were revived.”
• July 17: The Basij’s chief commander, Brigadier General Gholam-Reza Suleimani, addressing the “Islamic Neighborhood” exhibit organized on the sidelines of the seminar, said, according to Basij News: “The plan to realize Islamic democracy neighborhoods began in 2021 and is currently being implemented in 15,000 neighborhoods, but it can expand to 50,000 neighborhoods … The Iranian Parliament is constantly passing laws, but if Islamic democracy spreads at the neighborhood level, there is no need for such an amount of legislation. Whenever the government wants to do something, it can ask the people to enforce it, and this is the best way of doing things.”
• July 17: According to Fars News, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while visiting the exhibit, IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami said: “The Basij is in the midst of the people and is trying to solve the problems of the people, in particular those of the meek, since washing away the dust of poverty from the face of the people is the raison d’etre of the Basij … What we see on display at this exhibit is the key to solving many of our societal problems, meaning the creation of Islamic neighborhoods revolving around Basij Resistance Force bases.” Turning to the question of the perceived threat from foreign enemies, Salami said: “The enemy is engaged in a global war against us. It is using all tools available to it – media, communications, political, economic, intelligence, and psychological – to fight against the Iranian nation. This is a total hybrid war against the Iranian nation … The Basij is adjusting itself to these circumstances.”

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