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TEHERAN Iran's Parliament has voted to allocate US$520 million (S$708 million) to develop its missile programme to fight the US' "adventurism" and sanctions, and to boost the foreign operations of the country's Revolutionary Guards.

Sunday's vote follows a spike in tensions between Teheran and Washington since US President Donald Trump took office in January with a vow to get tough on the Islamic republic - and after the United States imposed fresh sanctions against Iran last month, targeting its missile programme.

"The Americans should know that this was our first action," said Speaker Ali Larijani, after announcing an overwhelming majority vote for a package "to confront terrorist and adventurist actions by the United States in the region".

A total of 240 lawmakers voted for the Bill, out of the 244 parliamentarians present.

It mandates the government allocate an additional US$260 million for missile development and the same amount to the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, state news agency IRNA said.

The Quds Force leads Iran's military role in Syria and Iraq.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Bill had the support of the government.

The Bill is "very smart, particularly because it doesn't violate the nuclear deal and doesn't allow the other side to make excuses," he added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Iran raises budget for missiles, troops after US curbs - The Straits Times

By a huge majority, members of Irans parliament voted Sunday to increase spending on the nations ballistic missile program and finance its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Members of Parliament chanted "Death to America" during the session, the Associated Press reported.

The vote was viewed as a response to recently announced U.S. sanctions against the Muslim country.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency reported that 247 lawmakers attended the vote session, with 240 approving the spending plan and one lawmaker abstaining.

No specifics were available about how the new funds would be used.

The bill now heads to an oversight committee called the Guardian Council, which is expected to approve it.

Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator on hand for the vote, said moderate President Hassan Rouhani's government would support the bill.

"The bill has very wisely tried not to violate the (nuclear deal) and also gives no chance to the other party to manipulate it," he said in comments reported by IRNA.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani speaks in Tehran, May 9, 2017. (Associated Press)

Under terms of the bill, some $800 million will be put toward several projects, including the Defense Ministry and its intelligence agencies. Among the agencies receiving money would be the Revolutionary Guards' Quds force, an expeditionary force run by Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who has been in Syria and Iraq.

The Guard, separate from Iran's conventional military forces, answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The bill also imposes a visa and travel ban on U.S. military and security organizations and their commanders who have provided financial, intelligence, military, logistic and training support to terrorists in the region, naming the Islamic State group and the Syrian branch of al Qaeda.

Iranian officials often accuse the U.S. of being involved with both groups. The U.S. is actively involved in a massive military campaign against the Islamic State group and has struck the al-Qaida affiliate as well.

Perhaps more relevantly, the bill also includes banning visas for American officials involved with the Iranian exile group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Prominent U.S. lawmakers and politicians have met with the group and spoken at its rallies. The MEK has paid one of Trump's Cabinet members and at least one adviser in the past for giving such speeches.

IRNA also referred to the money also being used to develop nuclear propellers. In December, Rouhani ordered officials to draw up plans on building nuclear-powered ships, something that appears to be allowed under the nuclear deal, over an earlier dispute on U.S. sanctions under the Obama administration.

Trump signed a sanctions bill earlier this month that included new measures imposed on Iran. That sparked new outrage in Iran, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accusing Trump of trying to "kill" the nuclear deal.

Earlier this month, Iran reiterated a previous assertion that new U.S. sanctions against it would constitute a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and a group of Western powers.

Araghchi said the country had prepared a list of 16 measures to take against the U.S. in response to the sanctions, but would not elaborate.

The U.S. sanctions impose penalties on people involved in Irans ballistic missile program, enforce an arms embargo and apply terrorism sanctions to Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard.

In remarks aimed at Trump earlier this month, Rouhani issued a warning for anyone looking to discard the 2015 deal.

Those who intend to tear down the deal should know that they are tearing down their political life, Rouhani said during a swearing-in ceremony to launch his second term.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 negotiated by the Obama administration, calling it bad and vowing to come up with a better plan for discouraging Irans nuclear ambitions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Iran lawmakers vote to boost spending on missile program ...

From the left: The Strength of White Nationalist Pride

Did the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville prove their strength or their weakness? At Slate, Jamelle Bouie says its tempting to say weakness: Hundreds came to march in support of white supremacy, but they were outnumbered by thousands of residents who turned out to oppose the rally. The rally was scheduled to last for five hours, but it was over after 15 minutes. But thats wrong. None wore a mask or hood; They werent just unafraid; they were proud. And the lack of a forceful response from the White House reinforced their gambit: No, they couldnt secure physical space in the city. But they can still claim a kind of victory. They revealed the extent to which they can threaten and intimidate with a certain amount of impunity.

From the right: Harsh Rhetoric on N.K. Is Whats Needed

President Trumps tough talk on North Korea is still eliciting handwringing from Democrats who want the president to tone it down. To this, I say: brutal talk is just what a brutal dictator like Kim Jong-un needs to hear, writes foreign-policy hand Alice Stewart at CNN. Indeed, Democrats and their failed approach have contributed to the position we are in today. There was the Obama administrations strategic patience, but during the last eight years North Korea conducted at least four nuclear tests, constructed a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, worked to develop ballistic missiles that can deliver a nuclear warhead, and constructed an experimental light water reactor at Yongbyon. Fact is, Diplomacy has not worked with the madmen of Korea. Its time to replace tepid talk with tough talk.

Israeli intel chief: Nuke Deal Helping Iran Replace ISIS

ISIS is receding, but Iran and its terror proxies are filling the vacuum, warned Israels Mossad chief Yossi Cohen at a Cabinet meeting Sunday. And part of that is thanks to the Obama administrations nuclear deal, which freed up Iranian cash with which to make mischief across the Middle East. The Times of Israels Judah Ari Gross sums up Cohens point: The Mossad chief noted that in the two years since the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Tehran has not abandoned its desire to develop nuclear weapons, and that the agreement only reinforced that trend and strengthened Iranian aggression in the region. The deal did nothing to curb Irans regional ambitions, and Cohen said Iran was now enjoying economic growth and international contracts in the deals wake.

Dem senator: The Lefts Self-Defeating Hostility to Faith

The vast majority of Americans including the majority of Democrats are people of faith, noted Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). But, he sighs, you wouldnt know it from listening to an increasingly large swath of the Democratic Party: According to a recent Pew study, more than one-third of Democrats including 44 percent of self-described liberal Democrats think churches and religious organizations actually have a negative impact on the United States. Thats a shame, because progressive values arent just secular values. We can get to some of our most important public-policy priorities whether on the environment, taxes, immigration or criminal justice through both secular and scriptural routes.

2020 Watch: The Rich-Basher Whos Making Bank

Elizabeth Warren is cashing in: Prayer candles. Action figures. Temporary tattoos. Coloring books. As Politicos Lauren Dezenski reports, Warren has become a cult figure on the left, and now shes a merchandising industry unto herself. Warren officials are cagey about the size of the Warren merchandising-industrial complex. Online marketplaces like Etsy and the Warren campaigns own online store host most of the business. And its safe to say no other senator has anything like it. A leading light of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party who reflexively demagogues the supposed sins of the rich, Warren isnt just building a war chest. With a possible 2020 presidential run ahead of her, the senator knows being a merch queen helps build Warrens brand on both a local and national level.

Compiled by Seth Mandel

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A sick 'victory' in Charlottesville, Iran replacing ISIS & other comments - New York Post

'If (the Americans) want to visit a base, they should go to the the military sites in the US.'

Lieutenant Commander of Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Hossein Salami stressed Tehrans vehement opposition to the United States inspecting its military sites, during an interview with state-run television on Saturday night.

"Both the great Iranian nation and the US and the world should know that if there is only one demand in the whole world which will be rejected and if there is only one wish that will be taken to the grave, it is the Americans' demand to visit our military centers," General Salami had said, as reported by the Iranian Fars news agency.

Salami suggested that "if (the Americans) want to visit a base, they should go to the the military sites in the US."

"The Americans should not allow themselves at all to speak about Iran, he added.

Sundays report by Fars news agency also noted that Aerospace Force Brigadier General, Amir Ali Hajizadeh made similar remarks last week regarding visits to Iranian military sites by officials from the US and other western countries.

We will not give them such a permission," General Hajizadeh had said last Monday.

General Salamis remarks were made against the backdrop of US President Donald Trumps assertion this past week that Iran was failing to abide by the spirit of the nuclear deal it reached with the P5 1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) in 2015. Nevertheless, the Trump administration certified last month that Iran was complying with the delineated terms of the agreement.

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Iranian General speaks against US inspections of Iran's military sites - i24NEWS

A senior Iranian official said on Saturday night that the regime will never allow any foreign government, and especially not the US, to visit its military facilities.

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said in a television interview that under no circumstances would Iran allow any such inspections, Irans Fars news reported Sunday.

The great Iranian nation, the US and the world should know that if there is only one demand in the whole world which will be rejected and if there is only one wish that will be taken to the grave, it is the Americans demand to visit our military centers, Salami said.

He stressed that only Iranians would ever be permitted to inspect the sites.

The Americans should not allow themselves at all to speak about Iran and if they want to visit a base they should go to the the military sites in the US, he said.

Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the countrys Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

In comments Sunday, Salami also boasted that the rate of our missile production is so high that we are faced with the problem of space to keep them in, state television reported.

The comments came in light of US President Donald Trumps repeated threats to renegotiate or abandon the nuclear deal struck by world powers under his predecessor.

Iran was also slapped with a sanctions bill targeting its missile program and alleged human rights violations, which Trump signed into law last week.

Tehran protested that the new sanctions violated the nuclear accord. President Hassan Rouhani warned Sunday that if the US intends to stand against the deal, the entire world will stand before the US.

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Iran official: We will never tolerate US inspections at military sites - The Times of Israel