Raphaeli wrote that since mid-2013, when Hassan Rouhani succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, the regime’s allocations to the military have continuously grown. But ahead of the next fiscal year (March 2017-March 2018), the government submitted a draft budget that sees a sharp increase of 39 percent – amounting to a total of $10.3 billion – for defense, including a big increase in the budget of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to Raphaeli, foreign policy is closely coordinated by the government and the IRGC, ‚a potent military force accountable to the Supreme Leader, in regional politics, and particularly in Syria and Iraq [with] a branch, the Qods Force Brigade…responsible for spreading Iran’s subversive and, often, terrorist activities across the Middle East and beyond.‘“ (Ruthie Blum: „Expert: Cash Transferred by Obama Admin to Tehran Led to Expansion of Iranian Military Budget by 39 Percent“)
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