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)

Blanka Vlasic of Croatia and Team Europe celebrates a clearance in the women's high jump during the IAAF/VTB Continental Cup at the Stadion Poljud on September 5, 2010 in Split, Croatia. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

A frightened maid, played by Phoebe Hodgson, knocks a bust off a tall pedestal while dusting, in a scene from the play “Queen High” at the Queen's Theatre. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images). 1926

King George V inspects the day's kill after a tiger hunt in India during his royal visit to celebrate his accession to the throne. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1911

A Christian pilgrim is baptised by a priest in the muddy water of the Jordan River at the Kasser-Al-Yahud baptismal site near the West Bank city of Jericho, on April 11, 2017. According to the gospels Jesus Christ was baptised in the waters of the Jordan River by John the Baptist. (Photo by Gali Tibbon/AFP Photo)

This picture taken with an underwater camera shows Japan' s Yumi Adachi competing in the Mixed Duet technical final during the synchronised swimming competition at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, on July 17, 2017. (Photo by Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)

A pair of young visitors rushes through a tunnel of colored lights at the annual Garden of Lights display at Brookside Gardens on December, 06, 2015 in Silver Spring, MD. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Gold medalists Kikkan Randall and Jessica Diggins of the United States dancing during the medal ceremony for Cross-Country Skiing – Ladies' Team Sprint Free on day 13 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Medal Plaza on February 22, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)