Pentagon Under Fire As Iran War Triggers Spending Debate: How Much Has Washington Spent?

3 min readMay 12, 2026 10:06 PM IST

The 10–week war in West Asia between the United States and Iran pushed energy prices higher globally, which rose more than 3 per cent on Tuesday as the debate over the cost of war in Tehran spiralled in the US Congress.

Pentagon defends military spending

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth defended President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion military budget request for 2027 as he answered Democrats and Republican lawmakers in Congress on Tuesday.

Hegseth told the lawmakers that the ceasefire with Iran remains in effect despite the direct exchange of fire between the two nations.

Iran war cost estimate rises

During a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on April 29, the Pentagon had said that America spent $25 billion on its war in Iran, and the expenditure mostly revolved around munitions and equipment maintenance.

But Pentagon’s top budget official Jules Hurst, in an update on war spending, told Congress that the cost of the war in Iran stood at about $29 billion.

Hurst, who is the comptroller at the Pentagon, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the new cost of the war in Iran, which is up $4 billion from the earlier estimate, includes equipment repair and replacement and operational costs. “The joint staff team and the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate,” he added.

Democrats question official figures

However, Democratic leaders and analysts have said that the number could be higher than the one quoted by the Trump administration.

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According to Linda Bilmes, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, the war in Iran is costing “about two billion dollars a day in short-term, upfront costs, which is the tip of the iceberg.”

A few Democrat leaders have said that the war in Iran will cost Washington between $630 billion and $1 trillion, Al Jazeera reported. Lashing out at the Democrats, Hegseth, during the previous congressional hearing, had said, “The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of Congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”

Casualties continue to mount

According to Tehran’s health ministry, the US-Israeli attacks on Iran have killed at least 3,375 people, while the US military has till now confirmed deaths of 14 service members, with injuries to 200 others.

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