Cost of Eight-Year War and Iran’s Regional Conflicts

Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has stated that based on an official report by Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization prepared at the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian government spent “19.6 billion dollars” in this war.

He made these remarks on Sunday, the sixth of Mehr, in a television program called “Century 14” on Ofogh Network.

This claim comes at a time when Rahim Safavi, military advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, said on March 9, 2018, in a public speech that Iran spent “a maximum of 12 percent of its gross domestic product on the war” during the eight-year war.

Based on International Monetary Fund statistics, gross domestic product during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq War averaged 180 billion dollars annually.

If we take these statistics and Rahim Safavi’s remarks as a basis, Iran’s annual war costs would have been 21.6 billion dollars, which totals 173 billion dollars for the eight-year war—more than eight times the figure announced by the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard.

Iranian government officials have also announced different figures regarding the total damage of the eight-year war, which typically exceeded 1,000 billion dollars.

Based on a report by the United Nations Secretary-General prepared in 1991, Iran’s war damages were estimated at 97 billion dollars, but the figure emphasized by Iranian government officials exceeds 1,000 billion dollars.

Based on these same calculations, Iranian government officials have repeatedly demanded reparations from Iraq. Among them, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a former parliament representative, has repeatedly demanded that the Iraqi government pay 1,100 billion dollars in reparations to Iran.

Besides Mr. Falahatpisheh, over the past ten years some Iranian parliament representatives have raised such requests, but the Iranian government has never officially pursued such matters.

Iranian parliament representatives usually refer to UN Resolution 598 as the basis and evidence for their statements in their interviews, but some experts in the field of war emphasize that the reparations issue was not raised in UN Resolution 598.

What is the cost of Iran’s military presence in the region?

Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard, also generally discussed Iran’s military spending for its presence in the region in the “Century 14” television program.

He said the total of Iran’s military costs since 2006 is “much less” than the cost of the Iran-Iraq War, but did not announce a specific figure and said he did not remember the exact amount.

Mr. Fadavi, in response to the slogan “Not Gaza, not Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran” raised by some opponents and critics of the Iranian government, said these slogans are raised in response to “victories that resistance and following God’s will have brought us.”

This slogan and others such as “Leave Syria, think about our situation” which have been repeatedly heard in demonstrations over the past decade, have been primarily raised by people who came to the streets in Iran and protested the policies of the Islamic Republic.

Mr. Fadavi declared Iran’s total military costs in the region since 2006 to be “much less” than 20 billion dollars, while in April of this year Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the tenth parliament, told the Etemaadonline website that the cost of the Iranian government’s presence solely in Syria is between 20 to 30 billion dollars.

Bloomberg News also reported in 2015 based on estimates and research that Tehran spends six billion dollars annually to support Assad’s government, and in some cases this aid has amounted to as much as 15 billion dollars annually.

Beyond this, in recent years international organizations and other countries have also published estimates regarding Iran’s military expenditures.

In September 2018, the Iran Action Group in the U.S. State Department published a report stating that the Islamic Republic has spent 16 billion dollars since 2012 to support Bashar Assad and its supported groups in Yemen and Iraq.

Based on this report, the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard used companies in the United Arab Emirates as well as the Islamic Bank of Iraq for its financial transactions.

Hezbollah of Lebanon is another group that, according to Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s leader, receives all its costs from Iran.

Multiple reports have also been published regarding the amount of Iran’s aid to Hezbollah of Lebanon.

Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on Iran, said in April 2019 that the Islamic Republic gives 700 million dollars annually to Hezbollah of Lebanon.

U.S. government officials say that after the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and the severe decline in Iran’s oil sales, the Iranian government’s ability to finance quasi-military groups in the Middle East has been greatly reduced.

Source: Radio Farda