The United States’ war on Iran has cost $25 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said, providing the first official estimate of the military’s price tag for the conflict even as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth defended the proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget, calling the massive increase essential to meet “current urgency.”
Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of the comptroller, told lawmakers during the House Armed Services Committee testimony on Wednesday that most of that money was for munitions.
Hurst did not detail what that cost estimate included and whether it took into account the projected costs of rebuilding and repairing base infrastructure in the Middle East damaged in Iranian retaliation on US facilities and its bases in allied Gulf nations.
“We will formulate a supplemental through the White House that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict,” Hurst added.
Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, responded to Hurst: “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.”
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