{"id":204700,"date":"2026-03-19T22:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hegseth-says-no-timeframe-for-war-on-iran-as-pentagon-asks-for-200bn-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T22:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:57:21","slug":"hegseth-says-no-timeframe-for-war-on-iran-as-pentagon-asks-for-200bn-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hegseth-says-no-timeframe-for-war-on-iran-as-pentagon-asks-for-200bn-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth says no \u2018timeframe\u2019 for war on Iran as Pentagon asks for $200bn – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hints war funding may change, leaving timeline decisions to President Trump.<\/em>
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The Pentagon is seeking an additional $200bn from Congress to fund the United States-Israel war with Iran<\/a>, a conflict Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns has no \u201ctimeframe\u201d for ending.
Asked about the figure on Thursday, Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount but said that it could change.
\u201cAs far as $200bn, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cWe\u2019re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we\u2019re properly funded for what\u2019s been done, for what we may have to do in the future.\u201d
The Associated Press and Washington Post reported that the US Department of Defense had requested the sum from the White House.
It\u2019s an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s July tax-cuts bill. Such a request would need to be approved by Congress, and it is not at all clear that such spending would have political support.
Congress has been bracing for a new spending request, but it is not yet clear whether the White House has transmitted the proposal for a war that Hegseth declined to provide a timeline for ending.
\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t want to set a definitive timeframe,\u201d Hegseth told a news conference, adding that \u201cwe\u2019re very much on track\u201d and that Trump will be the one to decide when to stop.
\u201cIt will be at the president\u2019s choosing, ultimately, where we say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve achieved what we need to.'\u201d
He added that the US has already struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran and that Thursday would mark \u201cthe largest strike package yet\u201d.
Congress, however, has not authorised the war and is showing growing unease with the military operation\u2019s scope and strategy.<\/p>\n

Congress is controlled by the president\u2019s Republican Party, but many of the more conservative lawmakers are also fiscal hawks, with little political appetite for big spending, on military operations or other matters.
Most Democrats are likely to reject such a request and demand more detailed plans for military strategy and goals.
Betty McCollum, the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee with oversight over defense spending, was among those who indicated she would press for information about the war effort before considering new funds.
\u201cThis is not going to be a rubber stamp for the president of the United States,\u201d she said.
The requested amount would be a sizable boost to the Pentagon\u2019s annual budget, which Congress approved at more than $800bn for the current fiscal year.
That is on top of some $150bn that Congress gave the Defense Department in last year\u2019s tax-cuts bill, much of it for specific projects and overall upgrades to the Pentagon\u2019s operations.
During his Thursday news conference with Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump himself defended the spending request as necessary. He also emphasised that the request stemmed from needs beyond his \u201cexcursion\u201d in Iran.
\u201cWe\u2019re asking for a lot of reasons, beyond even what we\u2019re talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world,\u201d Trump told reporters.
The Republican president then appeared to blame his predecessor, Joe Biden, and the US support for Ukraine for the need to increase military spending.
\u201cWe want to have vast amounts of ammunition,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe have a lot right now. But it was taken down by giving so much to Ukraine.\u201d
His remarks overall downplayed the costs the war on Iran was exacting on US military supplies.
\u201cYou could end this thing in two seconds if you wanted to. But we are being very judicious,\u201d he added.
While some of the military\u2019s biggest champions on Capitol Hill have welcomed new spending as a way to upgrade the US defence capabilities in the face of emerging threats, others have pointed to healthcare and other domestic needs that they view as more important priorities.
Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, signalled he was prepared to support the proposal, though he told reporters on Thursday he had not reviewed the details of the funding request.
\u201cI support what\u2019s needed to ensure that the American people remain safe,\u201d Johnson said.
Top US military officer General Dan Caine, who spoke alongside Hegseth, provided details on weapons being used against Iran and its allied forces in the region.
Caine said A-10 Warthogs \u2013 a type of aircraft designed for providing close air support \u2013 are \u201chunting and killing fast-attack watercraft\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz waterway, a key trade artery which Iran effectively closed to maritime traffic following the start of the war.
He also said AH-64 Apaches are being used in Iraq to target Iran-aligned militia groups there, and that some US allies have begun using the attack helicopters to counter one-way drones launched by Tehran\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n

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source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hints war funding may change, leaving timeline decisions to President Trump.SaveShareThe Pentagon is seeking an additional $200bn from Congress to fund the United States-Israel war with Iran, a conflict Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns has no \u201ctimeframe\u201d for ending.Asked about the figure on Thursday, Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}