Iranian Majlis Member Gholamreza Heydari: Figures Regularly Falsified to Balance the Budget

Iranian Majlis Member Gholamreza Heydari said in a February 20, 2019 interview with the IRNA News Agency (Iran) that Iran spends significant sums of money on religious seminaries, on “exporting the revolution through cultural channels,” on defense programs, on its missile industry, and on the wars in Syria and Yemen. Heydari, who is a member of the Majlis Planning and Budgeting Committee, said that Majlis members do not know the exact amount of money that is spent, and that much of the spending is at the discretion of Supreme Leader Khamenei rather than the Majlis itself. He also said that budget figures are “made up” and information is falsified in order to make it look like Iran’s income matches its expenses and consumption. Heydari added that the Iranian people experience this daily and already know much of this information because all the news is available online.

Budget