WASHINGTON—The U.S. military campaign against Iran has cost approximately $37.5 billion so far, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said during a Senate hearing on July 21.
Hegseth offered the Iran war cost estimate during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, as lawmakers consider an $86.7 billion supplemental spending request from President Donald Trump.
The requested supplemental covers funding for a range of government programs, including $67.1 billion for the Department of War.
Hegseth called on Congress to pass the supplemental request to sustain recent U.S. military operations, like the one in the Middle East.
“We face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption,” he said.
“This 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.”
The Pentagon has offered periodic estimates of the running cost of the recent military campaign in the Middle East, which began when U.S. and Israeli forces commenced strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Their last public estimate for the cost of the conflict was about $29 billion.
Much of the fighting occurred before Washington and Tehran entered a ceasefire on April 8, but there have been periodic exchanges of fire in the months since.
In June, Washington and Tehran agreed to a framework to bolster the ceasefire and facilitate further negotiations. The June framework has since faltered, and U.S. and Iranian forces have ramped up fighting in recent days.
Asked about reports that nuclear centrifuges had been moved into the Pickaxe Mountain facility, Trump said, “We‘ll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon.”
Trump has also repeatedly discussed military action against Kharg Island, an Iranian territorial island that serves as a key point for loading Iranian petrochemical exports.
“As far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that,” the president said in an interview with Fox News, which aired on July 14.
Seventeen U.S. military service members have been killed in the Iran conflict so far, while more than 400 have been injured.
The intensifying conflict has also recently pulled in Yemen’s Houthis, a designated terrorist group aligned with Iran. On Monday, the Houthis announced plans for a blockade of Saudi Arabia, a regional partner of the United States.
