🚨 The Islamic Republic is now texting Iranians to come learn how to fight because its existing military and Basij structures are no longer enough to project strength. The new “Janfada” mobilization is moving from propaganda into training, with the Islamic Republic announcing plans for 1,000 so-called national resistance battalions and mass-texting people about military and relief training. This comes after state propaganda claimed an astonishing 30 million+ people had volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the country. But registration could reportedly be done with little more than a phone number, while independent scrutiny challenged the enormous official numbers. And now comes the contradiction: if tens of millions genuinely volunteered and the Islamic Republic already possesses the IRGC, Artesh and a nationwide Basij organization, why does it need another militia structure and mass SMS recruitment campaign? Because this is as much about projecting strength as possessing it. After months of war, military losses, economic pressure and internal unrest, the Islamic Republic needs cheap manpower, neighborhood-level control and images of supposed popular mobilization. Mixing “military” training with “relief” training also dramatically broadens who can be counted as participating. The 1,000 battalions are particularly revealing. Even several hundred fighters per battalion would produce a force measured in the hundreds of thousands, nowhere remotely close to the claimed 30 million-plus “Janfada.” The Islamic Republic is trying to manufacture the image of a nation mobilized behind it precisely when its vulnerability is becoming harder to conceal. Strong states demonstrate strength through functioning institutions, credible deterrence and genuine public support. Faltering states inflate loyalty numbers, create new militias, militarize neighborhoods and text the population asking for bodies. The Islamic Republic wants the world to see millions ready to die for it. What it is actually showing is how desperately it needs people to believe that.