Private Government Report: Iran Spending Billions to Pay Terrorist Salaries

Iran has been spending billions of dollars to fund the salaries of terrorist fighters across the Middle East, including in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, according to a private U.S. government analysis conducted for a leading senator, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Iran’s defense budget ranges anywhere from $14 to $30 billion a year, with much of that money going to fund terrorist proxy groups and rebel fighters in a number of countries, according to a Congressional Research Service report conducted following a request by Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.).

The report discloses that funding for these terrorist groups could actually be much higher, as Iran obfuscates public records about its defense spending and financial support for paramilitary groups secretly conducting operations outside the Islamic Republic.

The report was assembled following a request by Kirk for the Obama administration to disclose its estimates of “Iranian military spending, as well as Iranian assistance to Houthi rebels in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Assad government, Hezbollah, and Hamas,” according to a copy of that report obtained by the Free Beacon.

This includes potentially millions of dollars in monthly payments to pro-government forces in Syria, more than $1 billion in military aid to fighters in Iraq, and around $20 million annually to Hamas terrorists, according to the report.

“Some regional experts claim that Iran’s defense budget excludes much of its spending on intelligence activities and support of foreign non-state actors,” the report states, estimating that actual military spending could far exceed the $30 billion Iran discloses annually.

“Similarly, another study claims that actual funding for the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Force’s Al Quds Force] is ‘much greater’” than the amount allocated in the state budget, as the group’s funds are supplemented by its own economic activities,” according to the report.

The White House estimated this year that Iran spends about $30 billion on its defense budget. Iran’s fiscal year 2015 budget is believed to be about $300 billion in total.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/private-government-report-iran-spending-billions-to-pay-terrorist-salaries/