The war with Iran has cost an estimated $25 billion since it began two months ago, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers today at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee — a session that also saw a combative Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, appearing before Congress for the first time since the Iran war began, clash repeatedly with Democrats and lash out at questions about the war.
Hegseth praised what he called the “incredible successes” of the first weeks of the war and touted President Trump’s ability to negotiate a deal that ensures Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon.
“The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said in his opening remarks, defending the war effort and setting the tone for nearly five hours of testimony before any lawmakers started their questioning.
Democrats blasted Hegseth’s leadership and criticized his unwillingness or inability to provide basic answers about the costs, objectives and endgame of the war in Iran. Hegseth was so frequently argumentative and dismissive of his questioners that Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the committee, urged the secretary to show more respect.
“Once I recognize a member, they have control of that five minutes,” Rogers said. “The witness has to recognize it’s their time.”
Putting a number on the cost of war: Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers that the $25 billion cost estimate stems mostly from munitions and also includes operations, maintenance and equipment replacement. He said that the White House will put together a request for supplemental funding “once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict.”
“I’m glad you answered that question, because we’ve been asking for a hell of a long time and no one’s given us the number,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee.
Hurst later pledged to provide lawmakers with a more detailed breakdown of the $25 billion cost figure.
Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire criticized what she described as a lack of details and accountability. “Here we are 60 days in to your war of choice in Iran and you can’t give us an answer on the basic breakdown of American taxpayer dollars that have been spent?” she said.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that 14 U.S. service members have died in the war.
Debating a historic defense budget request: The hearing’s official purpose was to review the Pentagon’s roughly $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal year 2027, a 42% increase over a 2026 spending level that was already historically high.
“For the first time in nearly 40 years, we’ve been presented a budget that accounts for the true cost of American deterrence,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, said in his opening remarks. “This budget fully funds both sustainment and modernization.”
Rogers said that the president’s budget request would get defense spending back to 4.5% of gross domestic product. “That’s where we need to be if we want to truly deter conflict,” Rogers said.
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, questioned the size of the request and the fiscal propriety of providing that boost to the Pentagon.
“The problem is we have a $40 trillion debt and we insist on cutting taxes for absolutely everybody, so we reduce the amount of revenue that is available,” Smith said. “We also have to have a national security strategy that lives within a sound fiscal picture. Most experts would say that the most profound threat to our national security right now is exactly that — is our fiscal picture. How are we going to continue to be able to afford to fund the things we need to fund as we run the debt ever higher? The other thing worth worrying about is the Pentagon has not yet passed an audit. If we give them what is roughly a 50- to 60-percent increase, is that money going to be well spent? We have every reason to doubt that.”
Concerns about military stockpiles: A recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and highlighted at CNN found that the military has used at least 45% of its Precision Strike Missiles, at least half of its stockpile of THAAD missiles and almost half of its Patriot interceptor missiles. “The diminished munitions stockpiles have created a near-term risk,” the CSIS report said. “A war against a capable peer competitor like China will consume munitions at greater rates than in this war. Prewar inventories were already insufficient; the levels today will constrain U.S. operations should a future conflict arise.”
What’s next: The war is reaching a potentially important 60-day mark given that the 1973 War Powers Resolution sets that milestone as the point at which a president can ask Congress for a 30-day extension for the use of military force or lawmakers can vote on authorizing the war.
Trump told Axios today that he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end a U.S. blockade while postponing talks on Iran’s nuclear program. The president also posted an AI-generated image of himself wearing aviator sunglasses and holding a gun below the words: "NO MORE MR. NICE GUY."