Hegseth says Iran war has cost $37.5 billion, makes case for supplemental funding

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators on Tuesday that the cost of the Iran war has risen to $37.5 billion, while stating the Pentagon’s case for supplemental funding, as the reignited conflict stretches into its fifth month.

“The supplemental request serves two purposes — sustain our military readiness to meet this year’s new demands and accelerate critical capabilities to replace and augment those we have used in contingencies,” Hegseth told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified amid an escalation of the war over the past several days in which three U.S. service members were killed and a fourth was believed to have been killed.

Since the start of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, lawmakers have raised concerns about its costs, especially the need to replenish critical munitions stockpiles that might be needed elsewhere in the world.

The Pentagon in May told Congress the cost of the war had climbed to $29 billion. The majority of that was related to operational costs for deployed forces and did not include the cost to repair or rebuild U.S. military bases damaged during the conflict, U.S. officials said at the time.

The updated war cost is based on where the conflict is today and projecting costs until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, Hegseth said.

The Defense Department’s current fiscal year budget is about $1 trillion, including $150 billion in one-time funding Congress approved last year for a range of military priorities. President Donald Trump’s administration has requested a $1.5 trillion allocation for fiscal 2027.

The Trump ​administration sent Congress ⁠an $87.6 billion ​supplemental ​budget ​request last month, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on July 21, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

Hegseth was asked several times by Democrats on the committee about the Pentagon still having $75 billion from last year’s reconciliation. They tried to get an answer for what the department will do with that money and why the Pentagon needed to make another request.

Hegseth responded that 95% of the remaining reconciliation would be spent by the time the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

“We told you we would spend the money. We plan to spend them on those things by the end of September,” the secretary added. “This is a new request based on new realities of the world we face.”

The secretary was also asked by multiple senators about the Iran strategy.

“I sit in front of a committee that wants to talk about winning a war that’s been going on for four years and talks about the strategic defeat of a conflict that’s been going on for four months to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb,” Hegseth said in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “Prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. I would hope for some perspective in this town on the historic nature of what President Trump is undertaking. Do you want radical Islamists to have a nuclear bomb?”

The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding last month to end the war and enter into a 60-day period of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and sanctions relief.

Both nations began trading strikes this month after accusing the other of violating a June ceasefire. Iran has resumed targeting oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy reinstated its blockade on Iranian ports.

Three service members have been killed — and another is believed to have been killed — and nearly 100 troops have been injured in the past two weeks as the ceasefire fell apart.

Two soldiers — 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19 — were identified by the Pentagon on Monday after coming under attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan, last week.

The Pentagon on Tuesday night said it believed Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, N.Y., to be the third soldier killed in Jordan.

“The soldier status was updated to a Duty Status-Whereabouts Unknown and is believed to be deceased,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon on Tuesday also identified Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, as the soldier killed during the controlled detonation of a downed drone in Iraq last week.

The Defense Department is investigating the incidents, according to statements.

“Today, we remember 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan, Sgt. Michael Swinton, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, and note that the names of our last fallen will be released when we can,” Caine said.

Hegseth did not mention the names of the recently fallen service members during the hearing that lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes.

In total, 18 service members have died and 447 have been injured as part of Operation Epic Fury, according to the Pentagon’s system. Based on a statement Monday by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, the number of wounded could be more than 500.

“They are determined to get back in the fight,” Parnell, a senior adviser to Hegseth, said in a post on X announcing 100 recent injuries. “The vast majority of injuries experienced were minor concussions.”

But the Pentagon withheld reports about three other strikes on Jordan and dozens of injuries, the New York Times reported.

Parnell initially dismissed the story as “outright lies.” It’s not clear where the injuries he mentioned on X occurred.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement Tuesday night that it had completed its 11th consecutive day of attacks, targeting Iranian air defenses and missile and drone launch sites.

The new supplemental package includes $21 billion for munitions, $17.3 billion for operational costs, $2.4 billion for drones, $1.7 billion for readiness, $12.1 billion for other classified programs and $800 million for National Guard support in Washington, D.C., and other cities.

The supplemental fund also addresses $1.4 billion in responding to the Ebola outbreak in central Africa and $11.1 billion to support American farmers.

“This was really an important discussion,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee. “Unfortunately, this hearing has done exceptionally little to justify the president’s request or to instill confidence that this administration has an exit plan or strategy to end the war.”