TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian parliamentary commission approved the allocation of more financial resources to the national defense budget in a bid to strengthen the country’s defense preparedness.



Iranian legislator, Abdolkarim Hashemi, told the Tasnim News Agency on Monday that members of a parliamentary commission voted unanimously in favor of a bill to allocate an extra $2.5 billion to the country’s defense spending.

This comes after Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani emphasized the necessity for a hike in Iran’s defense budget, apparently in response to earlier anti-Iran remarks by the US secretary of state.

In his interview with Al Arabiya on Thursday, John Kerry had announced that Washington was prepared to take military action against Tehran if it tries to continue enriching uranium beyond the levels stipulated in the Geneva nuclear deal.

“If they do that, then the military option that is available to the United States is ready and prepared to do what it would have to do,” John Kerry said.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) on November 24, 2013, signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.

Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.

By Tasnim News Agency 

 

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