Azerbaijan, Baku, May 5 / Trend/
Iran's parliament approved a law to increase the military budget by $3 billion, Head of the Iranian Parliamentary Research Center Ahmad Tavakkoli told the pro-government newspaper Keyhan.
Under the law, the military budget will be increased through funds derived from oil exports, Tavakkoli said. "The parliament increased the country's military budget upon Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's direct instructions.
There are no official data on Iran's military budget. However, the international media reported that the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute predicted that Iran's military budget will exceed $7 billion in 2010.
In addition, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London announced that Iran's annual military budget for 2007 amounted to $7 billion.