A senior Revolutionary Guard commander has said that the main message of the Arbaeen pilgrimage to Iraq is defending hijab and the Supreme Leader.

Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, the coordinating deputy to IRGC commander Hossein Salami, made the remarks during an event about the Arbaeen Shiite ceremony that the Islamic Republic regime views the event as a show of influence in the region.

Naghdi said promoting the pilgrimage on media is in line with the regime’s efforts to emphasize on the principles of Velayat-e Faghih – another term for the rule of the Supreme Leader – and observance of hijab.

The uprising last September has made it increasingly difficult for the clerical regime to enforce the mandatory Islamic dress code, and has damaged the legitimacy of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The rule of Islamic jurist gives a cleric such as Ali Khamenei extraordinary powers including the power to overrule all elected bodies and officials and hence, people’s choice. As a system of governance, Velayat-e Faqih has underpinned the way the Iranian regime has operated since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. At its most basic, the theory -- advocated by some Shiite thinkers -- justifies the rule of the clergy over the state.

Despite numerous incentives to encourage the pilgrimage, including providing free medical services and rest stops along the way, free internet on the road and inside Iraq, offering interest-free loans and granting 200,000 Iraqi dinars ($153) to pilgrims, the number of Iranians willing to undertake the Arbaeen Shiite pilgrimage is in decline.