TEHRAN: Iran’s government has proposed to triple its military budget, its spokeswoman said Tuesday, as tensions with arch-rival Israel rise following recent tit-for-tat missile strikes.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh MoHajjerani outlined the move that would see “a significant increase of more than 200 percent in the country’s military budget” at a news conference in Tehran.
She did not elaborate and Tehran has not disclosed any figures, but according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank, Iran’s military spending in 2023 was about $10.3 billion.
The proposed budget will be debated, with lawmakers expected to finalize it in March.
Iran and Israel on Monday accused each other of endangering Middle East peace in a heated exchange at a UN meeting.
It came days after Israel carried out strikes on Iran in response to an October 1 missile barrage that the Islamic republic launched against Israel.
The Iranian army reported four soldiers killed and damage to “radar systems.”
Iran’s October 1 strike, involving 200 missiles, was in retaliation for attacks that killed the leaders of the Iran-backed groups Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as one of its own commanders.
“All efforts have been made to meet the country’s defense needs and special attention has been paid to this issue,” the government spokeswoman MoHajjerani said.
The regional tensions flared after Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in response to the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Since last month, Israel has also been battling Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
Iran moves to triple military budget amid Israel tensions
https://arab.news/5ygux
Iran moves to triple military budget amid Israel tensions
- Tehran has not disclosed any figures
- The proposed budget will be debated, with lawmakers expected to finalize it in March
Soleimani warned Al-Assad about ‘spy’ Luna Al-Shibl: Al-Majalla
LONDON: The late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani confronted Syria’s National Security Bureau chief Ali Mamlouk in late 2019 after seeing Luna Al-Shibl leaving his office. Al-Majalla magazine claims its reporters reviewed a document containing the full Arabic transcript of their exchange.
Soleimani reportedly asked, “Who is this?” and Mamlouk replied, “She is Louna Al-Shibl, the president’s adviser.”
The Quds Force commander pressed further: “I know, I know… but who is she really? Where did she work?”
According to Al-Majalla, a sister publication of Arab News, he said her former salary was “ten thousand dollars,” compared with her current salary of “five hundred thousand Syrian pounds,” before asking: “Does it make sense for someone to leave ten thousand dollars for five hundred thousand pounds? She is a spy.”
Both Soleimani and Maher Al-Assad, commander of the Syrian army’s powerful Fourth Division, had warned the ousted president’s inner circle about Al-Shibl, Al-Majalla reported.
‘Suspicious’ car crash
On July 2, 2024, Al-Shibl was involved in what officials described as a traffic accident on the Damascus-Dimas highway. She was hospitalized and died four days later.
But Al-Majalla reported that photos of her armored BMW showed only minor damage, raising immediate questions among those close to the case.
Eyewitnesses told the magazine that the crash was intentional. One said, “a car approached and rammed her vehicle,” and before her bodyguard could exit, “a man attacked her and struck her on the back of the head,” causing paralysis that led to her death.
She was first taken to Al-Saboura clinic, then transferred to Al-Shami Hospital. Several senior regime-linked figures, including businessman Mohammed Hamsho and an aide to Maher Al-Assad, were present when her condition deteriorated. One witness told Al-Majalla that when her bodyguard tried to explain what had happened, “he was arrested immediately in front of the others.”
The presidency later issued a brief statement announcing her death. Her funeral was attended only by a handful of officials. Then president Al-Assad did not attend.
