Iran's parliament voted to boost spending on its elite Revolutionary Guards force and missile program in response to new U.S. sanctions.
An additional 20 trillion rials ($609 million) will be evenly divided between the missile program, to improve the nation's "deterrent capability," and Guards' Qods force, which is active throughout the region, according to the bill published by the Tasnim news agency. The bill cites "hostile" U.S. policies against Iran, and American "adventurism in the region aimed at creating divisions," Tasnim reported.
President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from a 2015 agreement between world powers and Iran that curbed the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, saying it is too advantageous to Tehran. Since the start of Trump's term, the U.S. has applied new sanctions against Iran's ballistic missile program and the Guards.