Speaker of Parliament Did Not Allow Discussion on Withdrawal of Funds for Military Purposes

A clause in the 2019 budget bill that permits the withdrawal of up to 1.5 billion euros from the National Development Fund for military purposes was approved by the order of Ali Khamenei and 'without the Speaker of Parliament allowing representatives to discuss it.' On Sunday, March 5, the Islamic Consultative Assembly allowed the government to withdraw 2.375 billion euros from the National Development Fund and allocate it according to a specified table to ten items. The ceiling for withdrawals for nine of these items is set between 40 to 150 million euros, but for the item 'strengthening defense capabilities in accordance with Article 106 of the Sixth Development Plan,' 1.5 billion euros has been allocated. A member of parliament had announced about three weeks ago that this amount was allocated by the order of the Supreme Leader, but on Sunday, the Speaker of Parliament did not allow discussion on the details. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran, noted that this clause was 'approved with one click' and tweeted: 'The Speaker did not allow representatives to discuss.' According to the 'House of the Nation' news agency, when several representatives attempted to present their proposals regarding withdrawals from the National Development Fund, the Speaker did not permit discussion. According to this report, Ali Larijani told the representatives that regarding the details of this matter, 'permission has been received from Ayatollah Khamenei,' and any changes depend on 're-consultation' with him, 'which is not possible, and the items have been communicated to him item by item.' This is not the first time that funds have been withdrawn from the National Development Fund for military expenses. Last year, the Supreme Leader ordered a withdrawal of four billion dollars from this fund, of which 2.5 billion dollars was allocated for military purposes and reportedly for the war in Syria. In the 2019 budget bill, the total budget allocated to military and security institutions exceeds 62 trillion tomans, with more than 25 trillion tomans allocated to the 'Joint Staff of the IRGC.' However, military experts, including Hossein Aryan, believe that the military budget of the Islamic Republic is always shrouded in ambiguity and has hidden sources and dimensions apart from what is presented in the official annual budget. The Supreme Leader's order to withdraw from the National Development Fund and spend it on military purposes comes at a time when the United States, the European Union, and several Arab countries have accused Tehran of 'destabilizing actions in the region' and have expressed serious concerns about 'the ballistic missile activities of the Islamic Republic.'