With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Armed female members of the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad carry Kalashnikov assault rifles as they take part in a rally to protest against US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City on December 11, 2017. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)

In this October 27, 1983 file photo, soldiers brandish captured AK-47 rifles from the windows of a civilian vehicle as they drive near Point Salines Airport in St. George, Grenada. In 1983, U.S. forces invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada after accusing the government of allying itself with Communist Cuba. (Photo by Doug Jennings/AP Photo)

A Turkana boy herds cows as he carries a rifle in north western Kenya near the town of Kibish inside the Turkana region of the Ilemy Triangle September 26, 2014. The Turkana people have historically clashed over ethnic differences and precious resources such as fishing, pasture and fresh water with other tribes bordering their territory, such as the Dassanach from southern Ethiopia. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A spent cartridge pops out of the rifle of Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, of Norway, during warmup before the Women 7.5 km Sprint competition at the Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, Friday, February 10, 2023. (Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)

This undated handout photograph released by Stony Brook University/ Louisiana State University on March 2, 2018, shows an Adélie penguin looking at a drone at breeding colony on Heroina Island, Danger Islands, Antarctica. A thriving “hotspot” of some 1.5 million Adelie penguins has been discovered on the remote Danger Islands in the east Antarctic, surprised scientists announced on March 2, 2018. (Photo by Rachael Herman/AFP Photo/Louisiana State University AND Stony Brook University)

People look at a man, who residents said was killed by al Qaeda militants, hanging on a bridge in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla June 17, 2015. Al Qaeda militants in Yemen killed two alleged Saudi spies, residents said, accusing them of planting tracking devices which enabled the assassination of the group's leader in a suspected U.S. drone strike. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)