Iran’s Rouhani cuts Quds Force budget, blocks missiles manufacturing funds

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reportedly reduced the budget allocated to the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Forces as well as that for the manufacture of missiles.

A source in the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei confirmed that Rouhani has cut the IRGC’s missile manufacturing budget by about half, prompting IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Major General Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force, to file a complaint with Khamenei.

According to the source, in his complaint Salami said that with the start of the Vienna negotiations, the Rouhani government began taking measures to weaken the military presence outside the country, and the IRG’s ability to purchase the parts and raw materials needed to manufacture ballistic missiles which he described as “a behind-the-scenes agreement with Washington and the Europeans to limit Iran’s field influence and missile capabilities”.

The source added that Salami based his complaint on a report submitted by Qaani stating that the government has suspended the transfer of $3 billion from the Quds Force cash budget, which amounts to $6 billion used to pay the salaries of fighters loyal to Iran in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen under the pretext of having to use the funds to purchase coronavirus vaccines.

The source noted that Salami has asked Khameini to use his own cash budget to transfer the funds needed by the Quds Force to pay the salaries of its fighters and to intervene and force the government to stop its hostile actions.

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