Iran to boost budget for military and missiles

Parliament approves plan to allocate at least 5 per cent of national budget to military spending, compared with almost 2 per cent in 2015-16.

A mid-range Sejil missile in a military parade in Tehran to mark Iran’s National Army Day, on April 18, 2015. Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

Iranian MPs approved plans on Monday to expand military spending to five per cent of the budget, including developing the country’s long-range missile programme.

The vote is a boost to Iran’s military establishment – the regular army, the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and defence ministry – which was allocated almost 2 per cent of the 2015-16 budget.

But it could put the Islamic Republic on a collision course with the incoming Trump administration, and fuel criticism from Arab and Western states which say Tehran’s recent ballistic missile tests are inconsistent with a UN resolution on Iran.

The resolution, adopted last year as part of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities, calls on Iran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Tehran says it has not carried out any work on missiles specifically designed to carry such payloads.

Tasnim news agency said 173 MPs voted in favour of an article in Iran’s five-year development plan that “requires government to increase Iran’s defence capabilities as a regional power and preserve the country’s national security and interests by allocating at least five per cent of annual budget” to military affairs.

Only 10 MPs voted against the plan, which includes developing long range missiles, armed drones and cyber-war capabilities.

The Obama administration says Iran’s ballistic missile tests have not violated the nuclear agreement with Tehran, but Mr Trump, who criticised the accord as “the worst deal ever negotiated”, has said he would stop Iran’s missile programme.

The increase in military spending is part of a growth plan for 2016-2021 first announced in July 2015 by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ayatollah Khamenei supported last year’s nuclear deal with world powers that curbed Iran’s nuclear programme in return for lifting of international sanctions. However, he has since called for Iran to avoid further rapprochement with the West, and maintain its military strength.

Iran has test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal and the US Treasury has imposed new sanctions on entities and individuals linked to the programme.

Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said last year that the missile launches were “not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the nuclear deal, but did not say whether they actually violated the U.N. resolution.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany wrote to Mr Ban in March about the missile tests, which they said were “inconsistent with” and “in defiance of” the council resolution.

Most UN sanctions on Iran were lifted after the deal but Iran is still subject to a five-year UN arms embargo – unless approved in advance by the UN Security Council.

* Reuters