Reduction of Army Budget and Increase of IRGC Budget in the 2019 Budget Bill

News sites in Iran report that while the budget for the army, the Ministry of Defense, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces has decreased in the 2019 budget bill, the budget for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij has increased. According to Jamaran and Eslahat News, the budget for the Iranian army has decreased from 11 trillion tomans in 2018 to 10.2 trillion tomans in the 2019 budget bill, marking an approximate 8% reduction. The budget for the Ministry of Defense has also decreased from 6.8 trillion tomans to 3.5 trillion tomans, nearly halving. However, the budget for the IRGC has increased from 20 trillion tomans in the government bill to over 25 trillion tomans, representing a 25% increase. The Basij budget, which was 1.3 trillion tomans in 2018, has seen a roughly 2% increase. The budget for the General Staff of the Armed Forces has decreased from about 3 trillion tomans to around 500 billion tomans. The military budget presented in 2018 by the government of Hassan Rouhani was about 44 trillion tomans. Some experts believe that the profits from IRGC and Ministry of Defense companies are not included in the military budget, and when these figures are accounted for, the military budget would be higher. According to a report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the armed forces, including the IRGC, have access to financial resources outside the budget, which they can use to increase their budget. Military expert Hossein Aryan previously told Radio Farda that 'Iran has other military expenses,' including the annual cost of the Islamic Republic in Syria, estimated to be between 15 to 20 billion dollars, a significant portion of which is military spending. The submission of the 2019 budget bill to the parliament was delayed, with government and parliament officials citing the need for reforms desired by the Supreme Leader as the reason for the delay. No detailed reports have been published regarding these reforms, but scattered reports from domestic media and statements from a member of parliament suggest that these reforms involve withdrawing amounts from the 'National Development Fund' and spending them for military purposes. Representatives of the ninth and tenth parliaments also approved measures to increase Iran's military budget after the nuclear agreement in July 2015. According to the sixth development plan, the government is required to add at least 5% of the 'public budget' to the country's defense budget each year and also to take action to 'develop and increase missile production capabilities.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, head of the Planning and Budget Organization, stated last year that the military budget had increased by 128% over a four-year period. However, the government of Hassan Rouhani is facing a decrease in revenue this year and next year due to U.S. sanctions. The government has predicted in the 2019 budget bill that it will export 1.5 million barrels of oil daily at a price of 54 dollars per barrel next year. Thus, Iran's oil sales next year will be half of this year's. Nevertheless, the government bill sets the ceiling for next year's budget at 1,703 trillion tomans (or 1,703 thousand billion tomans), which is a 40% increase compared to last year. The government's general budget has also increased by 8%. Last year, while the ceiling of the budget bill presented by the government of Hassan Rouhani was 1,194 trillion tomans, parliament representatives increased the budget ceiling to 1,217 trillion tomans.