Iran votes to boost military defence by $500m

Iran's parliament has voted in favour of boosting investment in its missile defence and foreign operations programmes by more than 500 million Dollars. The Bill, which received overwhelming approval, is in response to the latest round of US sanctions against Tehran. 

The US imposed sanctions after a ballistic missile test in January. Tehran says this violates the 2015 nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump has called the worst ever and threatened to tear up.

Of the members



present, 240 parliamentarians out of 244 voted in favour of passing the bill. The official state news agency Irna said, the Bill proposes that the government allocates an additional 260 million Dollars for the development of the missile programme and the same amount to Iran's Quds Force, a branch of the country's Revolutionary Guards Corps. 

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said the new bill was not in violation of the 2015 agreement limiting the country's nuclear programme.