Speaking to Khane Mellat News Agency on March 23, Hossein Sobhani-Nia said: “Fortunately, the parliament and the National Security and Foreign Policy parliamentary committee have adopted suitable measures to prop up and expand the defense, military and missile realms in the budget for year 95 [Persian year 1395 starting on March 20, 2016].”

“This credit has been included in the legislation for the budget and it is going to be voted on by the representatives, but of course the amount that materializes depends on the amount of released assets,” Sobhani added.

The parliamentary representative from Nayshabour and Firouzeh also addressed the planned allocation: “As decided by parliamentarians… this credit will come from the released funds to strengthen and support the military and defense realms for year 95.”

The released funds relate to Iran’s assets frozen due to international sanctions for the country’s clandestine nuclear activities. In July 2015, the Iranian regime and the international community arrived at a nuclear deal that greatly restricted Iranian nuclear activities in return for lifting of sanctions and the release of up to 150 billion dollars of frozen assets.