The plan to transform the Islamic Republic’s law enforcement forces into a central command was introduced about two years ago, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces took it seriously. In December of 1400, Ayatollah Khamenei announced his approval of the change in the law enforcement structure, and the law enforcement forces came under central command. As a result, the NAJA (Law Enforcement Forces) of the Islamic Republic of Iran was changed to the Fajr (Central Command) of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mehr News Agency wrote about the organizational change of NAJA to Fajrja: “Previously, due to the fact that NAJA was defined as a law enforcement force, it had a lower organizational position compared to the army and the Revolutionary Guards. However, with its transformation into the overall command of the army and the Revolutionary Guards, it will be on par with the commanders of the army and the Revolutionary Guards; meaning the commander of the law enforcement force will be on the same level as the commanders of the army and the Revolutionary Guards.”

This means that the commander of the law enforcement force is now considered equal to the commanders of the army and the Revolutionary Guards, and the commander of the law enforcement force, who was previously considered equivalent to government ministers, is now considered equal to the first deputy of the president.

But the question is, with the presence of the army, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij forces, what was the necessity for NAJA to undergo a structural change?

If you remember, we saw the anti-riot forces in uniform in Tehran in 2009. In those first days, many people did not believe that these anti-riot forces were Iranian and said they had been brought from Lebanon. People could not believe that their fellow countrymen would attack them so ruthlessly and violently, but with the spread of protests in recent years and severe suppression by the government officials, no one doubts that the suppressive forces are all defenders of the Islamic Republic and Iranians. Until before 2009, if a loud voice of protest was raised, the Basij forces and plainclothes would take action; of course, the incident at the university was a little different. Qalibaf intervened and, as he said, gas was poured on the students.

Gradually, the form of protests changed from student and intellectual protests to popular protests, and at the same time as the change in the method and type of protests, the government also increased the scope of its repressive forces. In 2009, we rarely saw police among the government’s suppressive forces on the streets, the police were mostly spectators, but in the past thirteen years, we have witnessed the police structure becoming more and more militarized and security-oriented. It is obvious that one of the reasons for this increase in security is the shortening of the distance between widespread protests of the people in the past five years. We see that in 2017, for the first time after the revolution, people came to the streets in about one hundred cities in Iran, and in 2020, people came to the streets in thirty provinces and in more than one hundred and forty-six cities to protest against the increase in gasoline prices. The Islamic Republic, seeing so many opponents from all walks

“Sardar Mehdi Hajian, the spokesperson for the national law enforcement, had previously stated in one of the domestic media outlets that the word “Faraaja” has replaced the word “Naja” and the structure of the police has changed. He said, “Naja means the law enforcement force of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, since the police have been transformed into a commanding force, the word “Faraaja” meaning the commanding force of the law enforcement of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has replaced the word “Naja”. This promotion has also taken place in the specialized police forces and the organization of information has been formed to command the national law enforcement, responsible for maintaining internal security. Changes have also been made in the social deputy and it has been renamed as the cultural and social deputy. Some of the specialized police forces have also been promoted and in some provinces, their positions have been elevated, and we will see the effects of these changes in the services provided

A little reflection on each word of Sardar Mehdi Hajian and looking at the recent suppression of people in protests against the killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish girl who had come to Tehran to visit her relatives but was arrested by the morality police and went into a coma and died in the hospital, shows that the regime does not serve the people at all and is completely in service of the government and suppressing the people. On the other hand, we see that the police in the Islamic Republic are not formed to create security and well-being for the people, but rather have a purely security structure. Morad Vaisi, a journalist, says in an interview with Iran International TV about the role of the police in the detention of civil and political activists: “In the security sector, we can point to the role of the police in the detention of civil and political activists, as well as the prominent role of the police in the detention and interrogation of bloggers in

It is no secret that in 2009, the Intelligence Deputy of the Revolutionary Guards was also transformed into the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards, and this organization has had conflicts with the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran in certain cases, including environmental activists.

Vissi also believes that the promotion of the IRGC to a higher level is directly related to the expansion of popular protests and then has a direct connection with the issue of succession of Ayatollah Khamenei, which the government wants to have complete control over the transfer of power; meaning they think that if all military forces are under the control of the IRGC, they can easily transfer power to his son after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei without fear of a coup.

On the other hand, Faraja is given the opportunity to increase the number of administrative buildings and its forces. It is said that currently Naja has two hundred and fifty thousand forces.

But another question is, what changes will occur with the change in the organizational structure? According to the Mehr News Agency report, it states: “Based on the comprehensive plan of the organizational structure and organization of the command of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s law enforcement, the National Police of Iran has been divided into two organizations, the Information and Public Security Police; in addition, the Amin Police Academy has been divided into two comprehensive universities for postgraduate studies and police training.”

According to this news, the Deputy of Science, Research and Technology and the Office of Public Cooperation and Honorary Police will be established; in addition, in this plan, the Social Deputy of NAJA will be transformed into the Cultural and Social Deputy and the organizational improvement of the Alborz and West Tehran Provincial Police Command and the improvement of some other ranks have been seen; of course, the structure of the Police Force Command in provinces is also changing and expanding.

On December 25th of last year, a ceremony was held to unveil the comprehensive plan for the structure and organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command, with the presence of Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and Hossein Ashtari. Although the exact details of the changes in the structure of the law enforcement forces have not been announced yet and only some aspects of these changes have been mentioned by the media, it seems that the government intends to give the police more power to spy on people’s personal and social lives.

Since the day the Islamic Republic came into power, a tall wall has been built between the people and the government. Living a dual life under the flag of this government has become an inseparable part of people’s lives, and the police now have more power to intrude into private, family, and celebratory events. On the other hand, they are given a larger budget and resources. In the images that were released from the protests of the past few days, we saw riot control vehicles and water cannons, showing the new means of suppression that directly connects the expansion of the police force with the expansion of public protests.