{"id":217896,"date":"2026-07-22T09:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hegseth-tells-senate-war-on-iran-has-so-far-cost-37-5bn-at-hearing-to-request-more-funds-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T09:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:22:08","slug":"hegseth-tells-senate-war-on-iran-has-so-far-cost-37-5bn-at-hearing-to-request-more-funds-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hegseth-tells-senate-war-on-iran-has-so-far-cost-37-5bn-at-hearing-to-request-more-funds-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth tells Senate war on Iran has so far cost $37.5bn at hearing to request more funds – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense secretary has asked Senate appropriations committee for nearly $88bn more to continue effort
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a> told the Senate<\/a> on Tuesday that the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> had cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict\u2019s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service members.
During an appearance before the Senate appropriations committee, Hegseth, whose opening remarks were repeatedly interrupted by protesters, provided an updated account of the war\u2019s cost \u2013 up from previous estimates \u2013 and defended the Trump administration\u2019s roughly $88bn supplemental funding request, calling it \u201curgent, necessary\u201d.
Alongside the chair of the joint chiefs, Gen Dan Caine, Hegseth argued that the Pentagon was running low on cash to keep the fight going. Of the total request, as much as $67.1bn is earmarked specifically to cover the costs of the Iran<\/a> war effort.
\u201cWithout these funds, we face critical shortfalls,\u201d Hegseth told the Senate panel, warning that it would threaten the defense department\u2019s ability to \u201cpay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption\u201d.
It was the defense secretary\u2019s first sustained public questioning since a brief ceasefire collapsed and the war roared back to life. At least two US soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack on Friday, and another died in Iraq destroying an Iranian drone, pushing the American death toll since February to 17. Nearly 100 troops have been wounded in the conflict, officials confirm, though most injuries were minor.
Patty Murray, the committee\u2019s Democratic vice-chair, demanded Hegseth explain what the war had actually achieved, accusing the administration of shifting its rationale by the week and warning the conflict risked becoming \u201canother forever war\u201d.
\u201cWe hear a different rationale for this war every few days,\u201d Murray said in her opening remarks, noting the justification had moved from pre-empting threats that \u201cdid not exist\u201d to regime change, then to dismantling Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and navy, and now, she said, to simply reopening the strait of Hormuz, a waterway that was \u201cfully open, toll-free, before this war began\u201d.
\u201cHere we are, five months later\u201d, she continued. \u201cThe strait is closed. The ceasefire hasn\u2019t just disintegrated \u2013 this war is now spiraling out of control again.\u201d
Under questioning from lawmakers, Hegseth cast the funding request as the price of deterrence rather than admitting failure, and framed the Pentagon\u2019s overhaul under the US president as a break from what he described as years of slow bureaucracy.
\u201cThe best way to create peace is to prepare for war, to deter it,\u201d Hegseth told the panel, arguing the department was \u201cbuilding a force so capable that it would be absurd for anyone to challenge it\u201d.
Hegseth said the $21bn readiness portion of the request would cover military pay, replace equipment used in recent operations and stabilize fuel shortfalls, while the $46bn capability portion would expand production of \u201csolid rocket motors, Jdams [joint direct attack munitions], hypersonics and counter-drone capabilities\u201d.
Without the funds, he warned, the department faced \u201ccritical shortfalls\u201d that threaten its ability to pay troops and replenish munitions, and he cautioned that failing to fund the Pentagon at $1.5tn was \u201cthe greatest threat that our nation faces\u201d.
Some Democrats, including Chris Coons of Delaware, plan to direct criticism at Russell Vought, director of office of management and budget, who is not testifying but who earlier told US Congress<\/a> that the war\u2019s running cost was about $30bn, a figure that is largely believed by experts to be a severe undercount.
Hegseth and Caine faced potential threats from within their own party. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the committee, and Alaska\u2019s Lisa Murkowski, two prominent Republicans, have both crossed the aisle to back war-powers resolutions aimed at reining in the president\u2019s authority over the conflict. Collins, who is facing a competitive re-election contest, has previously voiced frustration that the administration\u2019s strategy for the war seems to shift almost daily.
During the hearing, she asked Hegseth about the effect on military exercises if the supplemental funding is not provided.
The defense secretary said that current and future training \u201cwould have to be curtailed\u201d if the Pentagon does not get its budget needs met urgently.
Senator John Kennedy, a Republican of Louisiana, pressed the panelists on the situation in the strait of Hormuz, asking if Iran will impose tolls on commercial vessels passing through the vital waterway which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas supplies before the war.
\u201cThat\u2019s a hypothetical question,\u201d Caine replied, \u201cand I don\u2019t know the answer to that.\u201d
\u201cGuys, we need straight answers,\u201d Kennedy shot back.
Both congressional chambers have passed a war-powers resolution urging the president to seek congressional authorization to continue military operations in Iran. Asked why the administration had not yet sought congressional approval for the war, Hegseth said it was the view of his department that \u201cstandalone Article II authorities exist for us to conduct this operation on behalf of the defense of the American people\u201d. The defense secretary evaded the lawmaker\u2019s question about whether he would use the approval of any supplemental funding as a \u201csubstitute for explicit congressional authorization\u201d.
House representatives have separately accused the Pentagon of stonewalling on basic figures: Betty McCollum, the top Democrat on the House defense appropriations panel, said the department has missed a deadline to detail war costs and has not disclosed how many precision munitions remain after the military burned through thousands of them in Iran.<\/p>\n

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Defense secretary has asked Senate appropriations committee for nearly $88bn more to continue effortThe US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth told the Senate on Tuesday that the US-Israel war on Iran had cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict\u2019s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217897,"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":["post-217896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217896","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=217896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}