Cost of Iran war increases to $29 billion so far, Pentagon official says

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says the US war on Iran has cost $29 ‌billion so far, a figure that’s higher than the $25 billion price tag it issued to Congress two weeks ago.

Jules Jay Hurst, the Pentagon comptroller, testified on Tuesday that the cost of the war with Iran had risen to around $29 billion, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused repeatedly to tell members of Congress how much he would request on an emergency basis, or when, to fund the 11-week-old conflict.

“That’s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs,” Hurst said.

With just six months before midterm elections in which President Donald Trump's ⁠Republicans may face an uphill battle to keep their House majority, Democrats are riding high in public opinion polls as they attempt to link the war with cost of living issues.

But in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill, Hegseth sidestepped questions about how much money outside of the Pentagon’s normal budget would ultimately be needed to finance the war — and when he would request it — even as Republicans and Democrats alike pressed him for details.

He also made it clear that the administration had no intention of seeking authorization from Congress to continue operations in Iran.

“It’ll be helpful to get the supplemental sooner rather than later so we can get to work on it,” Representative Ken Calvert of California, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee told the secretary, inquiring about when a funding request would be submitted.

“First of all, the munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated,” Hegseth replied. “We know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.”

“Whatever we think we need, we will submit,” he added.

It ⁠is unclear how the Pentagon arrived at the $29 billion figure. A source told Reuters in March that ⁠Trump's administration estimated the first six days of the war had cost at least $11.3 billion.

But according to one war budgeting expert, the conflict will ultimately cost US taxpayers at least $1 trillion.

CNN previously reported that the earlier $25 billion estimate was a lowball figure that did not include the cost of repairing damage to US bases in the Middle East.

Linda Bilmes, a public policy expert at the Harvard Kennedy School, projects that the conflict with Iran will cost American taxpayers at least $1 trillion.

In an online post in April, Bilmes broke it down into short-term and medium to long-term costs:

Short-term costs include munitions (missiles, bombs, interceptors), maintenance of 2–3 carrier strike groups, maintenance of personnel and combat pay, and lost or destroyed assets such as fighter jets and drones.

She points out that replacement costs are often higher than the historical value of inventory. For example, a Tomahawk missile may be valued at $2 million in inventory, but replacing one today costs up to $3.5 million.

Medium to long-term costs of the war include repairing facilities over the next 4–5 years, restocking inventory with higher-tech weapons systems, and veterans’ care for 55,000 US troops in the region who may be exposed to hazards.

On top of it all, there’s the impact of rising energy prices on the global economy from the ongoing conflict. The US Department of Energy now says oil prices will likely stay above $100 a barrel in the coming weeks, and some analysts warn the national average for gas at the pump will eventually hit $5 a gallon.