Iran expands Janfada mobilisation drive with Tehran march and recruitment push
Iran has expanded a mass mobilisation campaign linked to the Basij militia and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with a public march and exercise held in Tehran involving thousands of civilians. The drive, known as Janfada, has been presented by authorities as a call for volunteer training and registration, and banners across the capital have promoted weapons and communications instruction. The latest activity comes amid official warnings about renewed conflict with the United States and Israel.
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The event took place on Friday in downtown Tehran, where children, women and men marched through the streets, many of them masked and wearing sunglasses. Before the march, authorities described it as a gathering of 313,000 people, although footage broadcast on state television did not appear to support that figure. In Twelver Shia tradition, 313 refers to the core companions of the hidden imam, Mahdi, a symbolic reference that appears to have been used to frame the mobilisation effort.
Hassan Hassanzadeh, who heads the IRGC in Tehran, said on state broadcaster IRIB that more than 600,000 people had registered this week for the active mobilisation part of the campaign. He added that authorities expected more than one million people to sign up and said an initial 1,000 units, described as battalions, had already been formed. The authorities have also claimed that 33 million people are now registered, after earlier saying more than 31 million had signed up in the month after the campaign was launched.
The mobilisation drive matters because it appears to be aimed at broadening the pool of civilians who could be used in state security roles under the Basij structure. That gives the campaign significance beyond a simple recruitment exercise, particularly at a time when Iranian officials are publicly emphasising preparedness and internal mobilisation. The scale of the claims also raises questions about how the programme is being measured and presented to the public.
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Janfada was first unveiled in late March during the war with the United States and Israel, according to the material provided. The campaign has since been expanded through public registration and training efforts, with Tehran now used as a visible stage for the messaging. The banners in the capital, which show military and communications equipment, suggest the authorities are trying to normalise the idea of civilian participation in security-related activity.
The figures released by officials have already drawn scrutiny. The claim that more than 31 million people had registered was questioned after foreign-based activists examined the website source code and said it showed fewer than four million registrations. The registration process reportedly required only a phone number and did not ask for a national identification number, which adds to uncertainty over the reliability of the totals.
The campaign also reflects the continuing role of the Basij and the IRGC in Iran's domestic security architecture. The Basij has long been used as a volunteer force tied to the state, and the current mobilisation effort appears to build on that model by combining public messaging, online registration and street-level displays of support. The use of religious symbolism, including the number 313, suggests the authorities are also seeking to give the drive ideological weight.
What remains unclear is how many of the reported registrations represent active volunteers, how the new units will be used, and whether the figures can be independently verified. It is also not clear how far the campaign will extend beyond Tehran or whether the public exercise marks the start of a wider rollout. For now, the key issue is whether Janfada becomes a durable mobilisation structure or remains largely a political and symbolic show of readiness.
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