Hard-line MP Javad Karimi Ghoddousi claims President Hassan Rouhani has said he is incapable of simultaneously financing both the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s regular army.
Ghoddousi, a former IRGC commander, made the claim in a video published on his personal website.
In the video, showing Ghoddousi delivering a speech at an unidentified gathering, the city of Mashhad’s representative to parliament quotes Chief of the General Staff of Armed Forces, IRGC Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “I have written a letter to President Rouhani requesting him to allocate a budget for the Armed Forces.”
Insisting that Bagheri’s position, if not higher, is not lower than Rouhani’s stature, Ghoddousi said Bagheri warned Rouhani, “It appears that a problem is brewing.”
Bitterly criticizing Rouhani, Ghoddousi noted that “instead of saying the defense issues are crucial and Bagheri’s demands must be met,” Rouhani has written on the margin of the letter that “the Armed Forces budget is used for smearing the government.”
Furthermore, according to Ghoddousi, Rouhani also wrote, “Based on the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, the budget of the Armed Forces should be separated from bizarre extravagant expenditures for so-called cultural and propaganda affairs.”
According to the conservative MP, Rouhani has reiterated, “A big chunk of the Armed Forces’ budget, instead of being used for the country’s defense purposes, is wasted on smearing and ruining the government, and that is against the law and Shari’a.”
Ghoddousi, without elaborating on how he obtained the letter with alleged Rouhani notations, directly addresses Rouhani by saying, “What ruins you is your own performance; not the viewpoints of people like us or cultural groups that are spontaneously established by the people.”
Moreover, in the same video footage, Ghoddousi maintains Rouhani has told parliament’s Joint Commission that he could not pay salaries, pensions, or bonuses to the members of the two Armed Forces, the regular army and the IRGC.
“Eliminating the IRGC is the West’s demand,” Ghoddousi said.
