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The Pentagon has updated its official price tag for the US war with Iran to $29 billion, up from the $25 billion estimate it gave Congress in late April.
Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you’re unaware, the US-Iran war began on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran (operation codenamed “Epic Fury”), with a fragile ceasefire being reached on April 8 through Pakistani mediation. The Pentagon initially told Congress in late April that the war had cost $25 billion at that point, although Reuters reported in March, citing an unnamed source, that the Trump administration’s own internal math put the opening six days of fighting at no less than $11.3 billion. Outside economists have produced significantly larger estimates that factor in the wider knock-on effects to the US economy: Rep. Ro Khanna pegged the broader hit to the US economy at roughly $631 billion back in April, which works out to about $5,000 per household once pricier gas and groceries are baked in. Harvard’s Linda Bilmes has gone further, forecasting a final tab that could reach $1 trillion. The Pentagon is also seeking a record-breaking $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense budget that sits separately from an expected supplemental request that would actually fund the war itself (which reports have suggested could run as high as $200 billion).
What’s going on now: During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst disclosed the updated $29 billion cost figure while testifying alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, after providing the same number earlier in the day at a parallel House Appropriations hearing. Hurst said the $4 billion increase from the late-April estimate came from “updated repair and replacement of equipment” and “just general operational costs,” and acknowledged that the number still leaves out repair bills for over a dozen US bases across the Middle East that took damage when Iran fired back during the war.
He added, “We don’t know how those bases would be reconstructed and we don’t know what percentage our allies and partners will pay for that reconstruction. We just don’t have a good estimate at this time.”
Democrats immediately seized on the new number as far too low. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the figure “suspiciously low” and pressed Hegseth to provide a real breakdown of damage to US facilities.
She said, “You’re spending families’ hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose, and you’re forcing people to pay more at the pump, and yet you’re not even providing a real breakdown for the cost of this war so far.”
Hegseth deflected, reframing the conversation around the threat Iran posed before the war began. “What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon? And the fact that this president has been willing to make a historic and courageous choice to confront that — it comes with costs.”
Republican lawmakers also pressed Hegseth on the timing of the supplemental funding request needed to actually pay for the war, with House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) repeatedly asking the secretary when the request would come.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) also pressed Hegseth on whether the administration intends to seek congressional authorization to continue the war, and Hegseth made clear the White House has no plans to do so. “Our view is that, should the president make the decision to recommence, that we would have all the authorities necessary to do so. President Trump has all the authorities he needs under Article 2 of the Constitution.”
This all comes as Hegseth pushed back on growing concerns about the depletion of US munitions stockpiles due to the conflict. “The munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated. We know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.”
Despite this, a Center for Strategic and International Studies report found that the 39-day air campaign burned through roughly 45% of America’s Precision Strike Missile inventory, with THAAD and Patriot stocks each cut by about half. The CSIS analysis concluded that “the United States has enough missiles to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk (which will persist for many years) lies in future wars.”
