TEHRAN — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed last week that his government allocated 20 million barrels of oil to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force to support the war effort. IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi stated that he has no information regarding the claim.

Mohebbi stated that it is unlikely Tehran gave oil to the IRGC because the organization lacks the structure to handle it. "It is the government's responsibility to support the armed forces," Mohebbi said. "The IRGC, naturally, needs funding to confront the enemy. It needs weapons, equipment, and support for its various units, and the government is obligated to provide that funding."

In April 2025, Iran published a budget law allocating $12.4 billion directly to the armed forces and specialized military projects. The allocation was triple the figure previously published. Security expert Roger Macmillan stated that oil allocated to the military is priced at a subsidized exchange rate of around 600,000 rials per euro. "That gap effectively doubles the IRGC's purchasing power on every barrel it receives," Macmillan said.

"On top of that, a further €7.5 billion in oil revenues disappears into budget lines described only as 'special projects' with no breakdown, no parliamentary scrutiny, no public accounting," Macmillan said. "This is not a military budget line; this is a state-within-a-state with its own energy company." The IRGC operates the Shahid Purja'fari Oil Headquarters alongside the state's National Iranian Oil Company.

President Pezeshkian attempted to appoint his own intelligence minister and was blocked. He also sought an urgent meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received no response.