Glossary

Setâd-e Amr be Ma’ruf is the Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, the office that funds and coordinates Iran’s morality enforcement.

Ershâd is the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Iran’s pre-publication censor. It decides which books, films, and songs reach the public.

Vali-ye faqih is the office of the Supreme Leader. Two holders since 1979: Khomeini and Khamenei. Commands the armed forces, the courts, and the vetting of candidates.

Velâyat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) is Khomeini’s 1970 doctrine that a senior Shia cleric must rule the state. A theological argument that became a security architecture.

Etelâ’ât-e Sepâh (IRGC Intelligence Organization, IRGC-IO) is the IRGC’s parallel intelligence service, separate from MOIS. It detained Niloofar Hâmedi and Elâhe Mohammadi in 2022.

Vezârat-e Etelâ’ât (MOIS) is Iran’s civilian Ministry of Intelligence, founded 1984. Implicated in the chain murders of dissidents and decades of overseas assassinations.

Basij is the IRGC’s volunteer paramilitary, the muscle that beats women and protesters in the street. Sanctioned by the US Treasury for human-rights abuses.