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On February 13, the dissident group GhiamSarnegouni (Persian for Rise to Overthrow) targeted 600 servers belonging to the Iranian regime’s Parliament, acquiring a wealth of classified information that it subsequently published on its Telegram and X accounts.
Among the newly revealed files are dozens of materials illustrating the Iranian regime’s military influence over the legislative branch, enabling strategic decision-making and monopolizing control over the country’s economy.
The leaked contents include dozens of confidential documents and correspondences between the Speaker of the Parliament and high-ranking military and security commanders of the Islamic Republic. They reveal requests for increased budgets for the armed forces, especially the Quds Force, as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence and Protection organizations.
Numerous other documents reveal how commanders of the armed forces, particularly the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have exerted pressure to secure a larger budget from the parliament. Some of these documents indicate that the foreign policy of the regime is monopolized by the IRGC and the Office of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In a letter stamped “very confidential,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces addressed the issue of “Foreign Currency Allocations to Strengthen the Defense Infrastructure,” a request made by General Mohammad Baqeri. He seeks €3 billion to be allocated from the military budget in foreign currency rather than in rials.
Additionally, a seven-page document titled “Distribution of Resources for the year 2023 among the Armed Forces Organizations,” stamped “very confidential” from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, was made public. Mohammad Baqeri, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, listed budgetary allocations for the Armed Forces in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament.
Among the details, paragraph three highlights a portion of the budget allocated to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards:
The sum of 7,700 billion tomans for the Quds Force is included in the government’s total defense budget in the seventh bill, while it was not considered part of the defense infrastructure strengthening in the Budget Law of 2022 or in previous years. Therefore, it is requested that this amount be transferred to the first chapter of the IRGC, and we receive additional allocations for the defense infrastructure of the Revolutionary Guards accordingly. In this letter, the request for €3 billion by the Armed Forces is reiterated, and it is further requested that, in addition to the “first priority of the Armed Forces” for employee salaries: Furthermore, deductions in maintenance and welfare funds, assistance to intelligence and Basij organizations, overtime pay for extra work, construction of organizational housing, and assistance to the army budget, reinforcement of the Quds Force and the aerospace of the Guards, and the fortification of borders, universities, and ideological institutions, in addition to the amount of €3 billion, should be implemented. According to this document, the total defense budget allocations for the Armed Forces in the Budget Law amount to 138,100 billion tomans. The General Staff and the Khatam Base receive nearly 301 trillion tomans from this budget. However, various items have been included in Iran’s military budget list. For example, a budget has been allocated for “Makran Coast Development.”
