Iran War Has Cost the US $37.5bn, Hegseth Tells Senators as Pentagon Seeks $87bn More

The war with Iran has cost the United States some $37.5bn so far, an increase of nearly $8bn since the last estimate in May, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has told the Senate.

Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to argue that it was urgent that lawmakers approve a further $87bn in funding for the Pentagon, with $67bn of that destined for operations in the Middle East. It was his first appearance on Capitol Hill since hostilities between the US and Iran restarted last week, and it came after three American soldiers were confirmed killed in the region.

The hearing was disrupted several times by anti-war protesters and ended in a shouting match between the defence secretary and a senator.

Hegseth opened his testimony by saying "we live in a dangerous world" that required bold and swift action. After being interrupted, he pressed the case for the money. "Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption," he said. Every dollar appropriated, he added, would be used to build the "lethality" of US forces and "reinforce peace through strength".

The request sits inside a much larger ask. The White House told Congress in April it wanted $1.5tn for the Pentagon over the next fiscal year, which would lift American military spending to an all-time high in the modern era.

Committee chairwoman Susan Collins, a Republican, pressed Hegseth on the consequences of the budget not being met. He said current and future training for service members would have to be cut, and repeatedly blamed the Biden administration for what he characterised as an underfunded military.

The most senior Democrat on the committee, Patty Murray, pushed back on the request, saying it "does not make a lot of sense". The $37.5bn figure itself emerged only when Democratic Senator Dick Durbin asked directly whether the department had an estimate of what the war had cost.

That figure is disputed. Two Democratic sources and a third source familiar with the matter told CBS, the BBC's media partner, that they believe the true cost is considerably higher, because the current estimate excludes items such as construction to repair damaged American bases. There had been no official government estimate of the financial cost of the war since 12 May, when a senior Pentagon official put it at $29bn.

The trajectory is what will concern appropriators most: an $8.5bn increase in roughly ten weeks, with no end to the strikes in sight and a supplemental request that is more than twice the war's spending to date.

Reported from the BBC.