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 child watching the sea while residents try to clear the bed of a river that has been blocked by debris left by Hurricane Matthew, in the commune of Roche-a-Bateaux, in the south west of Haiti, on October 21, 2016. At least 546 people were killed and more than 175,000 people lost their homes when Hurricane Matthew roared ashore on October 4, packing winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

A police cadet casts her vote in the presidential election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 18, 2018. Vladimir Putin headed to an overwhelming win in Russia' s presidential election Sunday, adding six years in the Kremlin for the man who has led the world' s largest country for all of the 21 st century. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

Highland dancers compete at Inveraray Highland Games on July 19, 2022 in Inveraray, Scotland. The games are held in the grounds of Inveraray Castle celebrate Scottish culture and heritage with field and track events, piping, highland dancing competitions and heavy events including the world championships for tossing the caber. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Four-month-old fox cubs squaring up to each other in Walthamstow, England on August 7, 2015. (Photo by Greg Morgan/Barcroft Media)

A Berber Moroccan woman, wearing traditional outfits, parades during the “Miss Rose” beauty contest as part of the yearly Rose Festival on May 13, 2016 in the town of Kelaat Mgouna, at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)

Rescuers pull dead whales ashore in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia, Thursday, June 16, 2016 during a mass rescue operation of stranded whales. Most of more than 30 stranded whales were managed to be pulled into the deep sea, an official said. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)