Iran doubles defense budget amid rising tensions

Iran plans to more than double military spending over the coming 12 months, according to an annual budget proposal by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented to parliament on Thursday.

"In the area of defense, there is a 127 percent increase," Ahmadinejad said in his statement to lawmakers.

Iran's official defense budget for the current fiscal year – which ends in mid-March – is around US$12 billion, on top of which parliament has authorized a US$3 billion extension.

The announced increase comes amid increasing Western threats to Iran's nuclear program and increased speculation that Israel is contemplating air strikes on the country's nuclear facilities.

Any such move would potentially spark a wider conflict that could draw in the United States, European allies and key Middle Eastern players.

Iran has recently been targeted by aggressive US and EU sanctions limiting oil exports, but maintains a considerable domestic military industry that develops its own weapons, including cruise and ballistic missiles.

The budget announcement came as Israel's head of intelligence claimed Iran has enough radioactive material to produce four nuclear bombs.

Speaking at a security conference, General Aviv Kochavi said: "Today international intelligence agencies are in agreement with Israel that Iran has close to 100 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is enough to produce four bombs."

"Iran is very actively pursuing its efforts to develop its nuclear capacities, and we have evidence that they are seeking nuclear weapons," he added.

Iran maintains its nuclear activities are peaceful and has condemned Israel for interfering in its sovereign territory, with repeated attempts to sabotage its ambitions.

Earlier this month Israeli intelligence was accused of planting a car bomb in Tehran that killed a key Iranian nuclear scientist.

"The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and is the work of the Zionists (Israelis)," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Tehran's Deputy Governor Safarali Baratloo as saying.

Iran has warned it could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which a third of global marine oil traffic passes, if it is attacked.

Britain and the US have both vowed to take action if Iran moved to block oil exports through the strait.

The US maintains its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and has beefed up its naval presence in the Gulf, raising concerns of a possible confrontation with the Islamic republic.

Tehran has repeatedly criticized the West for ignoring Israel's nuclear program, the only Middle Eastern state currently known to possess a nuclear arsenal.

(AFP, Al Akhbar)