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)

A woman has her hands painted with traditional henna as she attends Eid al-Adha prayers at historical Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, June 17, 2024. Eid al-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice, the most important Islamic holiday, marks the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim, Abraham to Christians and Jews, to sacrifice his son. During the holiday, which in most places lasts three days, Muslims slaughter goat, sheep or cattle, distribute part of the meat to the poor. (Photo by K.M. Chaudary/AP Photo)

Hostesses pose in front of a Suzuki Ignis car at the European Motor Show in Brussels, Belgium, January 13, 2017. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

A tourist poses for a souvenir snap in front of autumn foliage in Pitlochry, Scotland, Britain on September 28, 2018. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

Soldiers, including two recruits who have brought some chickens, at Victoria prepare to board the train for the battle front. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A woman in Kimono poses for photos in front of mimosa and cherry blossom trees in Tokyo on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)

Bees fly in front of a beehive in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Protesters wear gas masks in the front of the Romanian Environment Ministry in Bucharest March 4, 2019, to demand better air. Dozens of people holding placards reading “Our children don't breath air anymore” gather in the front of the Environment Ministry to ask for better breathable air in Bucharest. (Photo by Daniel Mihailescu/AFP Photo)