Delay and Shortfall in Armed Forces Salaries; Defense Minister: The Reason is Budget Calculation Discrepancy

Brigadier General Amir Hatami, Iran's Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Support, on Tuesday, September 6, attributed the delay and shortfall in the payment of armed forces salaries to a 'budget calculation discrepancy' which, according to him, 'will definitely be resolved and there is no cause for concern for the personnel of the armed forces.' In an interview with the House of Parliament News Agency, affiliated with the parliament, in response to the issue that 'it is said that the salaries for August of the armed forces have been paid late and they have only received 23 days of their August salary,' he stated: 'The salaries of the armed forces personnel will certainly be paid in full. This situation is a calculation discrepancy between the armed forces and related sections such as the Planning Organization.' Amir Hatami emphasized that this issue is being pursued and addressed, adding: 'What the armed forces understood regarding the salary section has been paid, and the Planning Organization's interpretation is that the remainder exists in the funds allocated this month, but the armed forces believe that this is not the case; this is a calculation discrepancy that will be addressed.' These statements by Brigadier General Hatami came after Masoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, announced on Tuesday that 'the government should not pay the armed forces and those who serve in the IRGC and Army their 23 days of salary' and stated: 'The salaries of the armed forces must be paid in full, and I request the government and Brigadier General Hatami to follow up on this matter.' According to the House of Parliament News Agency, Mr. Pezeshkian added: 'The government's delay in paying salaries to the armed forces is unacceptable.' The Deputy Speaker's comments followed statements by Nader Qazipour, a representative from Urmia, who said: 'The salaries of the armed forces, including the Army and IRGC, have not been fully paid,' and he urged Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, to ensure timely payment of the salaries of the military personnel. Previously, Ahmad Amirabadi, a member of the Parliament's Board of Directors, in an interview with Fars News Agency, referred to the delay in the payment of August salaries for the armed forces, including the IRGC, Army, and General Staff, stating: 'The August salaries of the armed forces personnel, namely the Army, IRGC, and General Staff, were paid on the fifth of September after a delay of 6 to 7 days. However, only the salaries for 23 days of August have been paid.' He requested that this issue be resolved as soon as possible, stating that 'we should not face this problem in the coming months; otherwise, the Parliament will intervene and definitely follow up on it.' Morad Veysi, a colleague of Radio Farda and a former instructor at the Armed Forces Organization and Chart at the Tehran School of News, noted that the delay in payment of armed forces salaries and the incomplete payment being made public in society and public opinion has not been seen in recent decades, adding: 'Even during the Iran-Iraq War, the importance of timely payment of armed forces salaries was such that, in some cases, bank employees would go to the front lines at the end of the month and set up mobile branches to pay the salaries of the troops, and if necessary, helicopters would take bank employees close to the front lines with the Iraqi army to ensure there were no delays in salary payments.' He added: 'In this recent case, despite the Minister of Defense stating that a calculation discrepancy occurred with the Planning Organization, the public revelation of this matter, even if it is an administrative discrepancy, is a psychological blow to the position of the armed forces in public opinion.' Mr. Veysi pointed out that 'such a delay could possibly be resolved under pressure from higher officials' and believes that 'the question that has arisen in public opinion is how can an armed force that speaks so much about its readiness to confront a potential enemy cannot even have its monthly salaries paid on time.' He also responded to the question of whether it is possible to use the revenues of organizations affiliated with the IRGC to pay the salaries of the armed forces, stating: 'The revenues of the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters of the IRGC and its subsidiaries, such as Sepasad and Sepanir, from contracting for the execution of dam, power plant, and road construction contracts amount to several thousand billion tomans per year, but for several reasons, using them to pay the salaries of the armed forces is not feasible.' Morad Veysi added: 'First, salaries must be paid from the national treasury, and the money from these contracts, even if paid on time—which is not usually the case in all cabinets—belongs to the IRGC and not the treasury.' Mr. Veysi also noted: 'Second, their use has a specific legal allocation, and transferring it without permission is a violation and subject to punishment, and third, the IRGC is unlikely to want to return the debts it receives from dam and road construction to the government to be used for the payment of salaries for the entire armed forces.' He also pointed out that 'the IRGC generally does not have a good relationship with the Rouhani government at present to have the will to provide such assistance to the government' and stated: 'It is said that the government is facing a budget deficit of between 35,000 to 50,000 billion tomans this year, and such an issue, given the severe financial pressure of paying subsidies on the government and treasury, could likely affect the incomplete payment of armed forces salaries.' Morad Veysi believes: 'This issue will be temporarily and soon resolved because the government is generally not pleased with the public revelation of such matters, even if the revelation was intended to pressure parts of the armed forces and their political supporters against the government.' 'Lower Receipts' of the Armed Forces Compared to Employees In the meantime, according to the House of Parliament News Agency, Nader Qazipour, a representative from Urmia, said on Tuesday: 'Each of the armed forces receives 700,000 tomans less than the minimum salary of employees.' In response to this issue, Brigadier General Amir Hatami told the House of Parliament News Agency that the Ministry of Defense pays special attention to the livelihood of the armed forces and added: 'According to the law, the salaries of the armed forces are 20 percent higher than their counterparts in other organizations, which this difference is due to the difficulty and special working conditions of the armed forces, which we will definitely pursue seriously.' He also promised that the law regarding the livelihood of armed forces personnel, especially regarding retirees, would be implemented. Meanwhile, according to the House of Parliament News Agency, Hashmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the National Security Commission of the Parliament, stated that the Ministry of Defense should not neglect the human aspect, saying: 'The livelihood of military and law enforcement personnel must be above the salary payment index in the country according to the law, but currently, the amount paid is low, so the job security and economic stability of the military personnel must be ensured.' Previously, Shahbaz Hassanpour Beiglou, a member of the 'Defense and National Power Fraction,' criticized the low salaries of the armed forces, stating: 'Before the revolution, the salaries of armed forces personnel were about 20 percent higher than those of other employees.' He had called for a 40 percent increase in the salaries of armed forces personnel in 2017. After that, Brigadier General Pourdastan, the deputy commander of the Army, stated in a television program in April of this year: 'In 2017, we will witness the promotion and adjustment of the salaries of active and retired army personnel.' He also promised that the housing problem of several tens of thousands of armed forces personnel would be resolved in 2017.