Basij says 1,000 battalions readied as Tehran opens second civilian training center

Iran on Saturday opened a second military training center for civilians in Tehran, Middle East Eye reported Sunday. The facility at Haft-e Tir Square is reportedly intended to prepare ordinary citizens for a possible ground assault by U.S. and Israeli forces.

Ali Kowsari, deputy for training at the Basij organization, said the force had readied 1,000 battalions for training. He said Iranians would close ranks against any new attack if the enemy miscalculated again, and he underlined the importance of civil defense throughout Iranian society. The battalion figure comes from the Basij itself and could not be independently verified.

The Haft-e Tir facility is the capital's second such site. It follows an initial camp at Imam Hussein Square, and both are intended to put civilians through training over the coming weeks. Activities on display at the new center included army drills using camouflaged anti-aircraft equipment, obstacle courses and weapons practice delivered through virtual reality, according to the report.

A truce that left the conflict open

The opening comes seven months after U.S.-Israeli attacks on Feb. 28 set off the conflict. A truce on April 8 brought 40 days of war to a halt, but sporadic hostilities have continued since, Middle East Eye said. Kowsari tied the training directly to the prospect of a renewed attack and framed preparedness as a duty that reaches well beyond the armed forces.

The Tehran sites are part of a wider push. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force under IRGC command, have expanded civilian mobilization and weapons instruction across the country, the news site This Is Beirut reported Thursday. It said public sessions in Tehran have drawn civilians, among them women, with instruction covering sniper rifles, AK-pattern rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

From volunteers to battalions

The vocabulary officials are using is organizational. Kowsari spoke of battalions rather than of individual volunteers, and the capital now has two sites operating in parallel, with training scheduled for the weeks ahead. The mix of anti-aircraft drills and rifle and grenade-launcher instruction covers both an attack from the air and the ground assault the new center is said to be preparing for. Taken together, the steps point to a program being built out in stages.

What it means: Tehran is investing in its home front rather than signaling an early settlement. Training civilians at fixed sites in the capital, and counting them in battalions, points to planning for a drawn-out confrontation in which the state would lean on mass mobilization if foreign troops ever crossed onto Iranian soil. The message is also aimed abroad: by advertising scale and readiness, Iran seeks to raise the expected cost of any ground operation and to deter the miscalculation its officials warn against. Whether the battalions add up to real combat capacity is a separate question. Figures announced by the Basij serve deterrence as much as defense, and until they can be checked independently they are best read as a statement of intent.