US war with Iran has cost $37.5 billion, Pentagon says, as Hegseth asks Congress for more

The war between the United States and Iran has already cost $37.5 billion, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the Trump administration is now seeking billions of dollars more from Congress to sustain it.

The request sets up a fresh fiscal and political test on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers must weigh the mounting price tag against competing domestic priorities and questions about the conflict's endgame.

Large military operations carry costs that extend well beyond munitions: fuel, logistics, force protection, intelligence assets and the replacement of expended weapons all add up quickly, and figures typically climb the longer a campaign runs.

Funding fights of this kind often expose divisions that cut across party lines, with fiscal conservatives, defence hawks and lawmakers skeptical of open-ended commitments each pulling in different directions.

The Iran conflict has been one of the defining foreign-policy stories of the year, and the scale of the spending underscores how consequential the decisions taken in Washington now are — both for the federal budget and for the region.

Analysts note that requests for supplemental war funding also force a public accounting of strategy: Congress tends to attach conditions, demand briefings and press for a clearer picture of objectives before signing off on additional money.

For the administration, securing the funds is about maintaining operational tempo. For its critics, each new request is an opportunity to ask how long the commitment will last and what success is meant to look like.

How Congress responds in the coming weeks will shape not only the trajectory of the conflict but also the broader debate over the limits of American military spending.