The second round of Basij mobilization exercises on urban counter insurgency begin on ‎Tuesday, October 23, 2007. The first exercise will begin with heavy and light weapons ‎around the city of Qom. The Basij commander for government agencies and offices ‎announced last Saturday that 10,000 Basij members belonging to government agencies ‎would begin three-day exercises around the city of Qom “to confront the enemy, attack ‎the enemy’s defense systems and confront the possible infiltration of the enemy in ‎sensitive centers.”‎

According to Masoud Chini Gharzadeh the purpose of launching these exercises is to ‎‎“strengthen the defense capability of the force with the aim of confronting any potential ‎threat by the enemy.” He said the important feature of these exercises was that they were ‎being held outside Tehran, in Qom’s general vicinity and added, “These exercises will be ‎held at the level of government ministries and agencies. Its forces will be exercising in ‎real war games using heavy and light weaponry.”‎

These maneuvers are being practices after commander Sayari, the intelligence deputy of ‎the Basij civil defense force, publicly said, “The country will be under special conditions ‎during the second half of the year (starting in late September) for domestic reasons as ‎well as the threats of the enemy.” During the fourth annual seminar of the heads of ‎cultural Basij centers and organizations, Sayari said, “Because of the elections that we ‎will have this year, the CIA has published a document that argued that until the time that ‎power centers were captured, we would not be able to change public desires.” He also ‎warned against the return of reformers to the Majlis (Iran’s Parliament), an even that he ‎called dangerous and added, “Our rivals are active to return to power and centers of ‎power to control the desires of the public. And through these words, he relegated ‎reformers to the enemy camp.‎

Passdaran Guards of the Islamic Revolution commanders, including former Passdaran ‎commander Rahim Safavi disclosed the number of counter insurgency brigades of Basij ‎to be 2,500. These brigades have held exercises this year in most provinces and towns. ‎But the extent and intensity of their activities have increased since the unrest that ‎followed the gasoline rationing that was implemented by the government about 3 months ‎ago. Basij commanders have openly said that one of their missions is to “crush urban ‎unrest and control public buildings in times of crises.” ‎

Majid Mira Ahmadi, the acting Basij commander last month called these maneuvers “the ‎show of force of Basij”, adding, “This show of force by Basij will continue throughout ‎the country for the remaining of the year.” IRNA quoted the same commander as saying, ‎‎“In view of the estimates of the enemy’s threats and the type of defense against it, Basij’s ‎defense preparedness is now the top priority among all activities.”‎