The cost of Iran's 8-year war and regional conflicts

Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said that according to an official report by the Iranian Planning and Budget Organization prepared at the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian government spent "19.6 billion dollars" on the war.

He made these remarks on Sunday, October 26, on the "14th Century" television program on Ofogh Channel.

This claim comes at a time when Rahim Safavi, military advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, said in a public speech on March 9, 2017, that Iran "spent up to 12 percent of its gross domestic product on the war" during the eight-year war.

According to International Monetary Fund statistics, GDP during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war averaged $180 billion annually.

If we take these statistics and Rahim Safavi's words as a basis, Iran's annual war costs have been $21.6 billion, which brings the total cost of the eight-year war to $173 billion, which is more than eight times the figure announced by the deputy commander of the IRGC.

Iranian government officials have also announced various figures for the total damage caused by the eight-year war, which has typically been more than $1 trillion.

According to a report by the UN Secretary-General prepared in 1991, Iran's losses in the war were estimated at $97 billion, but the figure emphasized by Iranian government officials is more than $1,000 billion.

Based on these calculations, Iranian government officials have repeatedly demanded compensation from Iraq. For example, former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh has repeatedly demanded that the Iraqi government pay Iran $1.1 trillion in compensation.

In addition to Mr. Falahatpisheh, over the past ten years, some members of the Iranian parliament have also made such a request, but the Iranian government has never officially pursued such an issue.

Iranian parliamentarians usually refer to UN Resolution 598 in their interviews as the basis and documentation for their statements, but some experts in the field of war emphasize that the compensation plan was not mentioned in UN Resolution 598.

How much does Iran's military presence in the region cost?

Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander of the IRGC, also spoke in general terms about the military costs of Iran's presence in the region on the "14th Century" television program.

He said that Iran's total military spending since 2006 is "much less" than the cost of the Iran-Iraq war, but he did not give a specific number and said he did not remember the exact figure.

In response to the slogan "No Gaza, no Lebanon, my life is sacrificed for Iran" raised by some opponents and critics of the Iranian government, Mr. Fadavi said that these slogans are raised in response to "the victories that resistance and following God's path have brought us."

This slogan, and slogans such as "Leave Syria, think about us," which have been heard repeatedly in demonstrations over the past decade, have been chanted mainly by people who have taken to the streets inside Iran to protest the policies of the Islamic Republic.

While Mr. Fadavi states that Iran's total military spending in the region since 2006 is "much less" than $20 billion, in May of this year, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the 10th Majlis, in an interview with the Etemad Online website, stated that the cost of the Iranian government's presence in Syria alone is between $20 and $30 billion.

In 2015, Bloomberg News reported, based on estimates and research, that Tehran spends $6 billion annually on the Assad regime, and in some cases, this aid has amounted to up to $15 billion annually.

In addition, in recent years, international organizations and other countries have also published estimates of Iran's military spending.

In October 2018, the US State Department's Iran Task Force released a report stating that the Islamic Republic had spent $16 billion since 2012 to support Bashar al-Assad and his supported groups in Yemen and Iraq.

According to this report, the IRGC Quds Force has used companies in the United Arab Emirates as well as Iraq's Al-Bilad Al-Islami Bank for its financial transactions.

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

Numerous reports have also been published about the amount of Iranian aid to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Brian Hook, the US State Department's special representative for Iran, said in May 2019 that the Islamic Republic gives $700 million to Lebanon's Hezbollah every year.

US government officials say that after the Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA and the sharp decline in Iranian oil sales, the Iranian government's ability to finance militant groups in the Middle East has been greatly reduced.

Source: Radio Farda