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 North Korean soldier throws a stone towards a photographer on the banks of the Yalu River in the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong October 21, 2006 in Sinuiju, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

A female forest guard carries a tranquillizer gun in the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Sasan, in Gujarat December 2, 2014. The sanctuary, which is home to Asiatic lions in India, has an area of 1,412 sq km in which female guards were employed for the first time in India in 2007. The guards fetch a monthly salary of around $148 for working almost 12 hours a day, six days a week, said one of the female guards. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

Dominic Bergamin, left, a new Vatican Swiss Guard, is is kissed by his wife Joanne, prior to a swearing-in ceremony, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 6, 2015. The ceremony is held each May 6 to commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards died protecting Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome. (Photo by Ettore Ferrari/AP Photo/Pool Photo)

Blacksmith Johann Schmidberger works on a suit of armour for the Vatican's Swiss Guards at his workshop in Molln, Austria, March 29, 2017. Austrian blacksmiths who produce ceremonial suits of armour for the Vatican's Swiss Guards are close to the end of their current deal to do so, and say supplying the suits will not now be an issue for many years to come. One of the drawbacks of the Swiss Guards' medieval uniforms is that the craftsmanship needed to make them is disappearing. (Photo by Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

Passengers wait for a train to depart from the Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, Friday January 13, 2017. Officials expect that Chinese travelers will make almost 3 billion trips during the holiday travel rush that starts runs through Feb. 21. These trips include intercity flights, trains and local bus rides to villages for China's 1.4 billion people. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)

A performer practices her mermaid swim next to a shark in an aquarium after graduating from a mermaid workshop in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China December 16, 2016. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Tao Xiangli gets out of his homemade submarine after operating it in a lake on the outskirts of Beijing September 3, 2009. Amateur inventor Tao, 34, made a fully functional submarine, which has a periscope, depth control tanks, electric motors, manometer, and two propellers, from old oil barrels and tools which he bought at a second-hand market. He took 2 years to invent and test the submarine which costs 30,000 yuan ($4,385). (Photo by Christina Hu/Reuters)