Disclosure of a Confidential Document Regarding the 2024 Budget; Welfare Provision for Basij Forces, Urban Control System Equipment with Traffic Fines

The disclosure of a "confidential" document containing a detailed letter from the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces to the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly reveals the Islamic Republic's plans to allocate public budgets aimed at equipping urban control systems and providing financial and welfare support for the Basij forces, which are part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This letter, signed by Mohammad Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, was addressed to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, marked "confidential," and dated November 13, 2023. It was published on the Telegram channel of the hacking group "Uprising to Overthrow," linked to the People's Mujahedin of Iran. According to this confidential document and in accordance with an annex to Article 102 of the 2024 budget bill in the report of the Consolidation Commission regarding the Basij forces, the Armed Forces General Staff has requested "full life insurance coverage for Basij members and compensation for damages incurred from their deployment in assigned missions" and "exemption of Basij resistance ranks from paying water, sewage, electricity, and gas connection fees." Furthermore, based on annexes "one and two of Article 103," to develop what is termed "sustainable security and enhance the sense of security and reduce crimes as well as improve the status, dignity, and livelihood of the personnel of the Islamic Republic's Law Enforcement Command," the government is obligated to provide the necessary resources for "enhancing, strengthening, and developing the capabilities and readiness of specialized police, border guards, special rescue units, and the Islamic Republic's Law Enforcement Command" in terms of equipment, buildings, and modern smart technologies to the extent of 90% of the approved organizational tables. In another part of the letter, Baqeri calls for "special attention to the livelihood and dignity of the personnel of the Islamic Republic's Law Enforcement Command to enhance their status through the allocation of free land and provision of necessary infrastructure and support for the construction of 100,000 organizational units, prioritizing operational border areas and compensating for personnel services." The government is also required to "provide and allocate free land, budget, and suitable facilities" for the "annual construction and renovation of 30,000 organizational houses for the armed forces, prioritizing 20,000 residential units annually for the Islamic Republic's Law Enforcement Command." The Armed Forces General Staff has also requested that the Islamic Consultative Assembly allow the Law Enforcement Force to, with the approval of the Armed Forces General Staff, adjust the Law Enforcement Force's capacity to meet the country's security needs and reduce the gap in this capacity, with a benchmark of five personnel per one thousand people throughout the annual program's implementation, hiring the required and appropriate personnel based on the annual budget. According to these documents, "military, law enforcement, and other responsible institutions stationed at the border" are also obligated to "create and support access for the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization to their border system data and provide suitable conditions for the establishment of the Ministry of Intelligence's dedicated systems at the border." Another part of Baqeri's letter to Qalibaf addresses the necessity of "real-time access for the Law Enforcement Command to monitoring control systems of main thoroughfares, squares, and highways in provincial centers and metropolises," which is referenced in annex "three of Article 103 of the Consolidation Commission report." This section emphasizes that "all main thoroughfares, squares, and highways in provincial centers and metropolises, as well as main roads and freeways covered by the installation, maintenance, and updating of smart monitoring (control) and surveillance systems by municipalities and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, will have these systems and access provided in real-time to the Law Enforcement Command." Additionally, it has been stipulated that "the costs of the above actions, when carried out by municipalities, will be covered from the traffic fines allocated to municipalities." This report is based on the document published by the "Uprising to Overthrow" group, and in the absence of a free media environment and information dissemination in Iran, precise and independent verification for Voice of America has not been possible.