Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed veteran intelligence official Hossein Taeb to lead the Basij, giving the former protest crackdown figure a mandate to expand the paramilitary force’s grassroots intelligence network and use of new technologies.
In his decree, Khamenei instructed Taeb to “strengthen the popular intelligence network,” improve training and skills and make greater use of new technologies for what he described as a “people-based” response to enemy threats.
The directive places intelligence gathering prominently among Taeb’s responsibilities at the Basij, whose branches extend through neighborhoods, universities, workplaces and other parts of Iranian society.
With Taeb’s appointment, Khamenei is returning a figure closely associated with the suppression of dissent and protests to a leading role in one of the Islamic Republic’s main domestic security and mobilization organizations.
Taeb previously commanded the Basij during the unrest surrounding the disputed 2009 presidential election, when the force played a major role in suppressing demonstrations.
Taeb’s career has been centered on Iran’s security and intelligence establishment for more than four decades.
Born in Tehran in 1963, the cleric joined the Revolutionary Guards in 1982 and served in IRGC units in Tehran, Qom and Khorasan before moving into the Intelligence Ministry, where he rose to a senior management position.
He also served in counterintelligence at the ministry and later headed the IRGC’s own intelligence protection apparatus.
Return to Basij
His Monday appointment brings him back to an organization he previously led.
Taeb, a longtime ally of Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed commander of the Basij Resistance Force in 2008, before becoming head of the newly established IRGC Intelligence Organization in October 2009, shortly after the mass protests that followed that year’s presidential election.
He went on to lead IRGC Intelligence for more than a decade, making him one of the most influential figures in the Islamic Republic’s internal security apparatus. The organization grew during his tenure into a powerful intelligence body operating alongside the Intelligence Ministry and became heavily involved in cases concerning political activists, journalists, dual nationals and alleged espionage.
Khamenei’s decree also ordered Taeb to broaden the Basij’s reach under the slogan “Every Iranian, a Basiji,” expand neighborhood and sector-based units, deepen cooperation with state institutions and develop social-service networks centered on mosques. He was also tasked with promoting the Basij model of “popular resistance” abroad.
Taeb replaces Gholamreza Soleimani, who was killed in the US-Israeli war earlier this year.
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