Also, maybe some of those project needed a little trimming, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the stealing is under the guise of research projects...remember the crashed Italian helicopter that was cobbled together to make it look like a new design?
I know of one R&D project that was finally cut that even remained active a few years under Rohani administration because they were claiming it to be Missile R&D project & it really wasn't taking up a large sum however it was still fraud and was finally cut because it turned out being nothing but a bunch of idiots putting fins on PVC pipes.
So a cobbled together Italian helo I would say was far from the worst of it! And there were all kinds of absurd R&D project from project that Iran was simply 3-4 decades away from having the infrastructure to build to projects like the Q-313 that was based on a fictional single engine with no thought into what the requirements of such a platform need to be for it to be worth producing....., to a large number of absurd smaller projects that were falling though the cracks due to lack of proper oversight.
And I'm not saying there weren't any good R&D project that were cut however due to the sheer number of fraudulent or absurd cases, a good number of really good R&D projects also ended up paying the cost.
And I'm also not saying what Rohani has done is the right thing because in my personal opinion Iran's defense budget should at the very least be double what it is today and we most definitely need more R&D projects however R&D project that receive funding need to be properly planned and managed with plans to also develop the proper infrastructure, tools, parts and materials needed around them with the proper oversight and accountability.
And I also believe that funding for Islamic advertising should NOT being coming out of Iran's comparatively small defense budget.
https://tradingeconomics.com/iran/military-expenditure
And I don't know the average salary in armed forces, but if my assumptions are true, then 5 billion dollars should be enough to feed our personnel.
I didn't say we need $9Biillion USD to simply feed our troops. I said $9Billion is the minimum requirement to do the following:
1.Pay the paycheck, healthcare & benefits of Iran's Active, Reservist & retired military and defense related personal (This included everyone from a janitor working at government owned ammo production facility to fighter pilots to full time Basij members)
2.Pay for Food & Beverages.
3.None weapons related supplies from office supplies to uniforms and anything that's not food, fuel or weapons related.
4.Military and government assisted housing.
5.Fuel from normal Safir jeeps given to personal to fighter jet to electricity & natural gas needed for bases.....
6.Maintenance & upkeep (From base maintenance to the maintenance required to keep the current fleet of Iranian weapons active from fighter jets to ships to tanks & jeeps.....)
7.Ammo and funds required for standard training and standard in border ops like boarder patrol...
Which means $9Billiion is about what Iran requires to simply keeps its military personal and equipment at the current level. With no weapons added or R&D projects active.