{"id":110778,"date":"2026-05-12T20:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/110778\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:29:25","slug":"pentagon-says-us-cost-of-iran-war-approaching-29-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/110778\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon says US cost of Iran war approaching $29 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AFP) \u2014 The Pentagon said Tuesday that the cost for Washington of the war with Iran had climbed to nearly $29 billion, as US President Donald Trump faced mounting scrutiny over the conflict and its impact on military readiness.<\/p>\n

The new figure, revealed by the US Defense Department during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, is about $4 billion higher than the estimate offered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were testifying on a $1.5 trillion budget request for 2027 alongside Pentagon finance chief Jules Hurst III on Tuesday when they were asked for an update on the war\u2019s price tag.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time of testimony\u2026 it was $25 billion,\u201d Hurst told lawmakers, referring to Hegseth\u2019s April 29 estimate.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the joint staff team and the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate, and so now we think it\u2019s closer to 29,\u201d he said \u2014 citing updated \u201crepair and replacement of equipment costs\u201d and broader operational expenses.<\/p>\n

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Pressed on when the US Congress would receive a fuller accounting of the war\u2019s costs, Hegseth said the Trump administration would request \u201cwhatever we think we need\u201d separately from the main Pentagon budget, but did not say when that supplemental request would arrive.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tActing US Under Secretary of Defense and Comptroller Jules Hurst III testifies at a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing for the US Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

The testimony came as a fragile US-Iran ceasefire appeared increasingly shaky, with Trump warning<\/a> Monday that the truce was on \u201clife support\u201d after rejecting Tehran\u2019s latest peace proposal.<\/p>\n

Democrats used the hearing to hammer the administration over both the ballooning cost of the war and what they described as a lack of transparency about US objectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question must be answered at the end: what have we accomplished and at what cost?\u201d asked Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the US House Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

Fellow Democrat Betty McCollum, of Minnesota, accused the Pentagon of a \u201cconsistent lack of transparency,\u201d and demanded more clarity about the administration\u2019s long-term strategy before Congress approves additional funding.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDemocratic US Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut speaks at a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing for the US Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

The war has intensified concerns over rapidly depleting US weapons stockpiles after months of heavy missile and air-defense operations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Hegseth dismissed warnings that the conflict had dangerously drained American munitions reserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arizona\u2019s Democratic Senator Mark Kelly had warned over the weekend that inventories of Tomahawk missiles, Patriot interceptors and other advanced systems had been severely drawn down and could take years to replenish, potentially weakening US readiness in any future confrontation with China.<\/p>\n

The hearings marked Hegseth\u2019s first appearance on Capitol Hill since the White House on May 1 formally notified Congress that hostilities launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28 had \u201cterminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have repeatedly been blocked by the Republicans as they have introduced measures to rein in Trump\u2019s Iran war powers, accusing the president of waging war without proper congressional authorization.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on May 11, 2026. (AP\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n

Hegseth and Caine faced a second round of questioning before a Senate panel after their House appearance, and there were protesters at both hearings.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, an Iranian-American activist interrupted Hegseth\u2019s opening statement to call out: \u201cIf you approve this budget, you will be complicit in the war crimes of this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators also raised questions about the Trump administration\u2019s plan to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, which has faced bipartisan pushback.<\/p>\n

Hegseth did not comment directly on Washington\u2019s relations with Berlin, but said: \u201cIt\u2019s not the troops. It\u2019s the capitals of those militaries that limit what they\u2019re able to do, where they\u2019re able to go, who they\u2019re able to fight, that create limits on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AFP) \u2014 The Pentagon said Tuesday that the cost for Washington of the war with Iran had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27587,38,34,1403,772,31474],"class_list":{"0":"post-110778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-pentagon","12":"tag-pete-hegseth","13":"tag-us-congress"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116563500345361914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}