A 'Suspicious' Figure in Iran's Military Budget

An examination of this year's Iranian government budget bill reveals a questionable amount that has been consistently repeated across 30 entries. The total of this figure, close to 60 trillion rials, is allocated to opaque projects that are under the control of the Islamic Republic's armed forces. The projects known as 'Shahid Rudaki' and 'Shahid Shoushtari' of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the 'Younes' project of the General Staff of the Armed Forces are among dozens of projects for which very little information is available regarding their financial mechanisms and execution. The Raisi government has allocated at least 1 billion and 969 million rials to each of these projects. According to reports published by Iranian news agencies, the 'Younes' project pertains to the production and construction of 'indigenous' hovercrafts, which some government media have referred to as 'mobile platforms for the armed forces.' The 'Shahid Rudaki' project is related to the IRGC's ocean-going vessel, which domestic media have described as 'a new mobile maritime city for Iran.' The 'Shahid Shoushtari' project is mentioned in the budget entries as 'ground defense missions,' but the Tasnim news agency previously described its goal as 'poverty alleviation in deprived areas' of the country. In last year's budget law, the Iranian government did not allocate the same amount for these 30 projects, estimating a total cost of about 28 trillion rials for them. However, this year, according to analyses by Radio Farda's data mining group, a recurring amount of 1 billion and 969 million and 200 thousand rials has been designated as 'operational credit' for each of these projects. The Radio Farda data mining group previously addressed the complexities in the financing mechanisms related to the Islamic Republic's armed forces in their report 'Share of Military Budget Recipients in 1403,' an issue that makes accurate estimation of Iran's military budget nearly impossible in the absence of transparent information.