A highly unusual incident shook Iran this week: a group of Basij students—the force mobilized since 1979 as the ideological vanguard of the regime—dared to interrupt a speech by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling, among other things, for a referendum on the future of the Islamic Republic.
This was a rare case where the regime’s own “children”—students tasked with enforcing official doctrine on campuses, monitoring professors and peers, and suppressing protests—broke ranks and openly challenged the authority of the leader.
Reports indicate that the official video of the event was edited to remove the embarrassing moment, but sources suggest the bold students have already been taken in for questioning or detention.
That such voices of dissent are now emerging from within one of the Republic’s strongest pillars underscores deep cracks forming at the very heart of the system.