New commander of Basij militia

The Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has appointed Hosayn Ta’eb as the new commander of the Basij militia.

According to his official biography, Ta’eb is a former seminary student of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and has worked in various capacities within the IRGC since joining in 1982. His latest positions have been as deputy commander of the Basij force, and “commander” of the cultural faculty of Imam Hosayn University (an IRGC institution).

Given Ta’eb’s previous role as Basij deputy commander his promotion is not surprising. What’s noteworthy, however, is that his recent career has been devoted to the ideological (i.e. “cultural”) work of the Basij. The Basij has a well-developed institutional identity and ideological worldview. It is equal parts devotion to the Supreme Leader and the doctrine of clerical rule (velayat-e faqih), commitment to revolutionary ideals, and the memorializing of the Iraq war and its martyrs.

This highly-charged ideological focus has been the foundation of the Basij’s activities in post-war Iran. Under the previous “reformist” regime they operated as the enforcers of the hardline (clerical) establishment. The Basij and war veterans were also the key constituency in Ahmadinejad’s election.

Even though Maj-Gen. Jafari has brought the Basij into his portfolio and is in the process of reintegrating the Basij with regular IRGC units, the appointment of Ta’eb is a clear indication that Jafari does not want to dilute the Basij’s ideological base. If anything, the recent reorganization of the IRGC (which has emphasized a more proper military capacity for the Basij) will draw from the Basij to strengthen the ideological resolve of other associated forces.