Ahmad Vahidi, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), demanded on or around 17 June that any released Iranian frozen assets be allowed to fund military spending, including the rebuilding of missile and drone programmes1. The IRGC is Iran's ideological parallel military, the force that controls Hormuz toll operations and the weapons programmes at issue; Vahidi is the first named figure inside it to put a use on the relief money, and the use is missiles, not reconstruction.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington research group, warned on 17 June that sanctions relief would let Iran reconstitute those programmes, estimating that 60 days of oil exports alone could raise up to $10 billion2. That figure does direct work in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune said on 17 June he had still not seen the final text and that financial incentives "should be conditioned" on Iran ending its nuclear programme; Republican unease over the $300 billion reconstruction package hardened into open opposition3.
Vahidi's quote lets Thune argue the money would fund the very programme the deal was meant to end, which is sharper than any think-tank estimate. The domestic picture in Tehran cuts the other way: around 60 MPs demanded speaker Ghalibaf justify his signature, and hardline MPs condemned the deal as capitulation while holding no power to block it. No named IRGC general and no Supreme Leader has committed to the text in writing. An IRGC-linked Farsi outlet, not the corps itself, said there was a "high probability" the text would be confirmed because "the US accepted Iran's text"4.
