▶ Watch Video: Hegseth tells senators Iran war has cost $37.5 billion so far
Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday the U.S.-Iran war has cost about $37.5 billion so far, as the Trump administration asks Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in additional Pentagon funding to help underwrite the cost of the war.
Two Democratic sources and a third source familiar with the matter told CBS News the actual cost is much higher, in part because the current estimate does not include costs like military construction for U.S. bases that have been damaged.
Hegseth testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee following an escalation in the war with Iran in recent days. The U.S. and Iran have traded nightly strikes for over a week, and Iran has struck several commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing to an end a shaky ceasefire between the two countries. During the hearing, Senate Democrats vehemently criticized the Trump administration’s Iran strategy.
In Tuesday’s hearing, Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine detailed the Trump administration’s supplemental funding request for $67 billion to help cover the cost of the Iran conflict and replenish crucial military supplies. The administration is also asking for $1.5 trillion on top of that to fund the department in the next fiscal year.
“Rest assured that every dollar appropriated to the Department of War will be focused on building the lethality of our joint force, and reinforcing peace through strength,” Hegseth said in his opening statement.
The secretary did not mention Iran directly in his opening remarks, but said the supplemental request includes $21 billion for readiness, which he said would include replacing “much of the equipment utilized during recent operations.”
Under questioning from Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, Hegseth said the administration estimates that the Iran conflict has cost $37.5 billion so far. He said that figure represents some costs that will be incurred through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A Pentagon official testified in mid-May that the war had cost about $29 billion at that point.
Tuesday’s Senate hearing came after three U.S. soldiers were believed to have been killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan on Friday, while another service member died in Iraq during a controlled explosion to destroy an Iranian drone.
The deaths bring the total number of service members killed since the war began in February to 18. Nearly 100 American service members have been injured in multiple Iranian strikes on bases across the Middle East this month, officials told CBS News. Meanwhile, the U.S. carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military infrastructure Monday.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee chair, recognized the service members as the hearing kicked off, who she said “made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our nation.”
Caine opened his testimony honoring the service members killed over the weekend, while framing the funding request as needed to address global threats.
“I’ve come to you today to request the necessary funds while in the window of opportunity, while time is still on our side,” Caine told senators, pointing to a “global list of military challenges” in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
Last month, the administration asked Congress for $88 billion, with the bulk of the funds aimed at covering the cost of the conflict, including $21 billion for munitions, $17.3 billion for operational costs and $12.1 billion for classified programs. The long-anticipated supplemental funding package also included a request for funds for efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in African countries, along with $11.1 billion for farm aid. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will testify alongside Hegseth and Caine Tuesday as they make a pitch for the additional funds.
Hegseth and Caine testified before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees in May as the Pentagon sought $1.5 trillion in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal. Both Hegseth and Caine reiterated the administration’s position that it needs $1.5 trillion, plus the supplemental, to be fully funded and address military needs around the world.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee, highlighted the cost of the war for Americans in her opening statement, while warning that the conflict is now “spiraling out of control again.”
“My colleagues and I cannot and will not support rubber-stamping a request to bankroll this war and whatever other misadventures Trump wants to get us into next,” Murray said. “The American people want to see a quick and strategic end to this war, not $70 billion of their tax dollars sent to keep it going.”
Several Democrats questioned whether the administration has accomplished its stated goals, including decimating Iran’s conventional military and preventing Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program, especially following successful Iranian attacks on bases in Jordan and the Gulf region. Hegseth conceded that some of Iran’s ballistic missiles have survived U.S. bombing campaigns, largely because many of them are stored deep underground, though he argued Iran’s military has been severely degraded.
“The Iranian defense industrial base is effectively gone, but they do have underground facilities because they’re the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and they’ve spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains, just like their nuclear capabilities,” Hegseth said.
In one particularly tense exchange toward the end of the hearing, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan characterized the administration’s Iran strategy as a failure — remarks Hegseth called “reckless,” “irresponsible” and “smears” on service members.
“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure, and then you want to turn around and say you support the warfighter. Either you do or you don’t,” Hegseth said.
Raising his voice, Peters responded: “You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that frontline. … If there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way, their leaders have failed them.”
Republicans have been increasingly skeptical of the war as well. Collins has been among a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle in support of resolutions to rein in Mr. Trump’s war powers in Iran. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also sits on the committee and has likewise voted with Democrats on the war powers resolutions.
Collins acknowledged the “divergent views on this committee about the decision to use military force against Iran” in her opening statement.
“But irrespective of our differing views about the military operations, the fact remains that there are must-pay bills and urgent requirements facing the department that affect the ability of our troops to be well-trained, and more broadly, of the U.S. military to deter and defend against potential aggressors worldwide,” Collins said. “We should not undermine the readiness of our service members for any engagement, or refuse to rebuild critical capabilities.”
House Republicans have been pursuing the funds for the Pentagon through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to approve measures with direct budgetary consequences without help from across the aisle.
A number of Democrats in the hearing pointed out that the Pentagon has not spent around $75 billion from a previous reconciliation package and questioned why the department is asking for more money from Congress. Hegseth said that 95% of that reconciliation money will be allocated by the end of September.
Some key GOP senators, including Collins and Murkowski, have cast doubt on the prospects of a third reconciliation bill in the Senate. And Majority Leader John Thune has remained noncommittal.
Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said last week that reconciliation “is very different in the House than it is in the Senate,” noting that GOP members in the upper chamber will want to have input. He pointed to the overall figures for the Defense and Agriculture departments, possible offsets for the funds, and the Senate’s restrictions over what can make it into a reconciliation package as possible hurdles.
“I’ve said all along … that it’s an option,” Thune said. “But it’s not, certainly, the only option.”