Basij

But then in September of 1980, the Iraq army invaded western Iran, and what followed was a pointless war that destroyed tens of thousands of families on both sides of the border, and because it was so long, almost everyone was dragged into it sooner or later.

From the beginning, a group called the Basij began drafting children into their ranks, and early on during the war, a 13 year old boy became famous for strapping explosives to himself, then throwing himself under the treads of an Iraqi tank.

But such a waste of young life did nothing to slow down the recruitment of children, and instead, it only accelerated it.

At first, lots of kids volunteered.

It was obscene, but all war is obscene.

It's just a shame people only realize that once the bodies of their children start coming back from the front.

And soon the number of volunteers started to dwindle and the Basij would conscript children with petty bribes or even coercion.

Which is how I myself ended up joining their ranks.

But then in September of 1980, the Iraq army invaded western Iran, and what followed was a pointless war that destroyed tens of thousands of families on both sides of the border, and because it was so long, almost everyone was dragged into it sooner or later.

From the beginning, a group called the Basij began drafting children into their ranks, and early on during the war, a 13 year old boy became famous for strapping explosives to himself, then throwing himself under the treads of an Iraqi tank.

But such a waste of young life did nothing to slow down the recruitment of children, and instead, it only accelerated it.

At first, lots of kids volunteered.

It was obscene, but all war is obscene.

It's just a shame people only realize that once the bodies of their children start coming back from the front.

And soon the number of volunteers started to dwindle and the Basij would conscript children with petty bribes or even coercion.

Which is how I myself ended up joining their ranks.

That would likely target, like I said, energy infrastructure, major G-locks, and then also command and control C2 hubs and nodes across the nation.

It also likely targets some Basij headquarters and reinstated Basij headquarters.

For those who don't know, the Basij security force is kind of this paramilitary force that's largely responsible for putting down some of the bigger protests prior to the war and have continued to put down dissent within Iran in a post-war dynamic.

So that would be likely what a more expanded campaign would look like.

And if that were to happen, it's highly likely that Israel, taking into account the caveats that Matt provided earlier, as it pertains to the Israeli elections, it's highly likely that Israel would join in on those strikes at the request of the United States to potentiate any effect against Iran that any operation would have.

while they may be trying to educate people on how to operate weapons, they're not actually handing out those weapons.

It's tough because you have the gray area in between, which is the Basij paramilitary force.

It operates under the IRGC, but it's a lot more loose.

If you are in a neighborhood, you go to the mosque frequently enough and your family's pro-regime, you can get involved with the Basij.

And if you're close enough, you can get yourself a pistol.

So think of them as a really fragmented reservist that is ideologically devoted and on a volunteer basis.

But then in September of 1980, the Iraq army invaded western Iran, and what followed was a pointless war that destroyed tens of thousands of families on both sides of the border, and because it was so long, almost everyone was dragged into it sooner or later.

From the beginning, a group called the Basij began drafting children into their ranks, and early on during the war, a 13 year old boy became famous for strapping explosives to himself, then throwing himself under the treads of an Iraqi tank.

But such a waste of young life did nothing to slow down the recruitment of children, and instead, it only accelerated it.

At first, lots of kids volunteered.

It was obscene, but all war is obscene.

It's just a shame people only realize that once the bodies of their children start coming back from the front.

And soon the number of volunteers started to dwindle and the Basij would conscript children with petty bribes or even coercion.

Which is how I myself ended up joining their ranks.

Of course, we absolutely minimize, do everything, the military should do everything possible to minimize American casualties and maximize the destruction on the Iranian forces.

Wipe out the Basij, wipe out the IGRC, you know, just wipe those people off the earth.

um and and minimize are but we do we need to do whatever we need to do and we should have done it then we shouldn't have stopped just giving them a chance to build up their missile fleet and to destroy you know the world economy or at least uh cause a lot of ruination of the world economy you know you should make these things quick and any any pain should be made as quick as possible, to be over as quick as possible, and we're not doing it that way.

And here we are, the French, the destruction in France, is it to some degree a result of that?

The more technical answer to that question would be The people who are running Iran at the moment is a combination of IRGC and figures around Mojtaba Khamenei.

So, for example, there's a figure called Hossein Tayeb, who's recently been made head of the Basij, which is the sort of student, well, not the student, but the kind of volunteer paramilitary force that goes around knocking heads in the event of domestic unrest.

Now, he had a background in the IRGC intelligence organization.

He's very close to Mojtaba Khamenei, and he's taken on this role as head of the Basij.

And that indicates that perhaps Mojtaba is at least calling some shots because he's a very close ally of Mojtaba Hossein Tayyip Erdogan.

But then on the IRGC side, you have these figures who are predominantly from provinces like Khuzestan and Fars.

And I think it's more important as an interpretive lens for their policymaking than we think.

As in, how do they... prevent a return or repeat of the events of January.