44: Chapter 44 provides funding for the purchase of 50 million barrels of oil.

Seeing the excellent combat performance of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, Major General Rahim decided to report directly to the Commander-in-Chief of the Persian Lion State National Guard to secure oil funds to cover the funding gap for purchasing the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile.

As for the high-level officials of the Iran Ministry of National Defense, Major General Rahim did not intend to seek funds from them for the time being, mainly because obtaining oil funds from them would take a relatively long time; for the current Glass House, it was preferable to shorten the time as much as possible and increase efficiency.

Major General Rahim immediately contacted Commander-in-Chief Qasim of the Persian Lion State National Guard. After the call connected, he reported directly, "Commander-in-Chief Qasim, our Quds Force has recently shot down four aircraft from the USA and Israel in Syria, including one Global Hawk, one F-16 Fighter Jet, and two drones. The results are very significant."

Commander-in-Chief Qasim knew about the incident where Glass House shot down the Global Hawk, but he was not very clear about the later three aircraft shot down, so he asked, "When was the F-16 Fighter Jet shot down?"

"Just late last night. An F-16 Fighter Jet sent by Israel, not knowing what mission it was executing, intruded into the southern airspace of Syria and was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile."

"Anti-aircraft missile? Was it our self-produced Bavar series missile defense system, or the unknown anti-aircraft missile you mentioned purchasing before?"

"It was shot down by the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile that Glass House previously purchased. All four enemy aircraft were the results of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile," Major General Rahim stated truthfully.

"Does the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile have such good combat performance?" Commander-in-Chief Qasim could not believe it. "The Bavar series missile defense system uses the Sayyad anti-aircraft missile, and the actual combat effect is not very satisfactory."

"The various models of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile can exert optimal combat capability against different types of targets; we have specifically tested them."

"Since it has such good combat performance, then increase the procurement efforts and buy more Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile."

"We have already started purchasing, but Syria's oil reserves are not very large, and they simply cannot support us in purchasing more Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile."

"Syria's oil?"

"The arms dealer agreed to accept payment in oil, and we use Syria's oil to pay the arms dealer. As you know, most of Syria's oil is in the northern region, an area controlled by the USA and the Opposition Armed Forces it supports. The oil that Syria can control is not much, and the oil in stock is difficult to support our purchase of more Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile."

"I see. If the arms dealer agrees to be paid in oil, I can provide oil for Glass House to pay for the procurement funds. But the arms dealer needs to come to Iran to transport the oil themselves; we do not provide transportation services."

Being able to provide oil was good; this was exactly what Major General Rahim was waiting for. He asked, "I wonder how much oil can be provided at most?"

"As long as it does not exceed the funds for 50 million barrels of oil, you can freely decide on the purchases." Commander-in-Chief Qasim was not stingy; it should be enough, as it was roughly ten days of oil production for Iran.

Anyway, the oil could not be sold, so helping the Iran National Oil Company consume some inventory meant the oil company should thank him, and this would also reduce some inventory costs.

"Understood, Commander-in-Chief. I will use these oil funds reasonably," Major General Rahim assured.

"Since you say the combat performance of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile is excellent, then send us ten sets of each model of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, and we will test them to see the combat performance." Commander-in-Chief Qasim also had his demands.

"Ten sets? Some models of anti-aircraft missiles are very expensive, with one set of anti-aircraft missiles reaching 50 million USD. If we provide ten sets, we won't have many anti-aircraft missiles left for our own use," Major General Rahim exaggerated the price and complained.

If it were really that expensive, ten sets would cost 500 million USD, which indeed wouldn't buy much. Commander-in-Chief Qasim lowered his requirements, "At least send one set for us to test, otherwise I will not approve your funds."

"Okay, I will arrange to send it to the Commander-in-Chief as soon as possible." If it was only one set, Major General Rahim didn't feel a pang of regret.

After all, he had already given funds for 50 million barrels of oil; sending a small fraction of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to Commander-in-Chief Qasim was also very reasonable.

"Is there anything else?" Commander-in-Chief Qasim was preparing to hang up the phone.

"Commander-in-Chief, I wonder where we can mobilize oil from to pay the arms dealer?" Major General Rahim quickly asked.

"Let's use Abadan Port." Commander-in-Chief Qasim thought for a moment; Abadan Port had the largest oil inventory, and it would be very easy to mobilize oil from there. Finally, he added, "When you need to pay oil to the arms dealer, you can directly contact the National Guard's person in charge there, Colonel Suman."

"Abadan Port. Understood, I will contact Colonel Suman." Upon hearing that it was from Abadan Port, Major General Rahim knew that paying oil to Chaos Company would be a breeze.

Abadan Port is located in the Khuzestan region, where Iran's oil and gas fields are most concentrated. The local oil production accounts for two-thirds of the total national production of Iran, so providing 50 million barrels of oil was absolutely pressure-free.

After the call between Major General Rahim and Commander-in-Chief Qasim ended, he calculated slightly how much the value of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile he could utilize was.

Since he already owed Chaos Company 4.4135 million barrels of oil that had not been paid, it was naturally necessary to deduct this batch of oil, leaving 45.5865 million barrels of oil.

Calculated at the oil price of 48 USD per barrel agreed upon with Chaos Company, it was worth 2,188.152 million USD. After deducting the 45 million USD friendship price for one set of Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile, the oil funds he could utilize reached 2,143.152 million USD.

Of course, the oil price would have adjustments based on changes in international oil prices, and the actual usable oil funds would be less than this amount, but even if calculated at 45 USD per barrel, the usable oil funds would still reach 2 billion USD.

2 billion USD, for Glass House, was a very extravagant matter if used only for replacing anti-aircraft missiles.

With Glass House fully equipped with the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, the air defense capability of Iran's troops in Syria could be raised to a new height.

At the very least, it would not allow Israel to easily air-raid Glass House's military bases again. It could even attack Israel's fighter jets and suppress their operational space.