Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has brushed aside criticisms about state oil reportedly allocated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Al Jazeera reports.

“Defending the country’s armed forces is my duty, and I am proud of it,” Pezeshkian says in comments reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The president said last week that Iran had allocated 20 million barrels of oil to the force.

Responding to critics, he pledges that if “such a situation arises again, I will provide them with not just 20 million barrels, but 100 million barrels”.