Iranian lawmakers respond to U.S. sanctions with military spending bump

Iranian members of parliament in early 2017
(Image credit: Atta Kenare/Getty Images)

The Iranian parliament on Sunday voted to increase expenditures on the nation's ballistic missile program and Revolutionary Guards in response to new U.S. sanctions. Lawmakers described the spending bump as a way to "counter America's terrorist and adventurist actions."

The legislation "was designed wisely so that it does not violate the nuclear deal and provide excuses for opposing sides," said Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, giving Iran "potential and actual options to confront hostile U.S. actions." Some members of parliament reportedly chanted the slogan "Death to America" when the bill passed.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.