Hegseth Tells Senators the Iran War Has Cost $37.5 Billion as He Pleads for Billions More

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a skeptical Senate on Tuesday that the United States' war against Iran has already cost $37.5 billion, a figure he unveiled while pressing lawmakers to approve tens of billions of dollars in additional funding to sustain a conflict now grinding into its fourth month with no clear end in sight.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth said the new estimate was up sharply from the roughly $29 billion the Pentagon had projected in mid-May, a jump that underscored how quickly the campaign of near-nightly strikes and naval operations around the Strait of Hormuz has drained American munitions stockpiles and treasure. He appeared alongside Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the administration sought roughly $67 billion in supplemental money for the military.

The request is folded into a broader $95 billion package that also includes aid to farmers and changes to voting law that rank among President Donald Trump's top priorities. "We face critical shortfalls," Hegseth told the panel, warning that the armed forces could not keep up the tempo of operations against Iran without a fresh infusion of cash for precision weapons, air defenses and ship repairs.

The hearing was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, who shouted at Hegseth during his opening remarks before being escorted out. The disruptions came just days after the Pentagon announced that three more American service members had been killed in the conflict, bringing the death toll to 17, with more than 100 troops wounded since fighting flared anew in early July.

Democrats used the session to demand an accounting of what the administration hopes to achieve. Several senators pressed Hegseth on whether the war had a defined objective or an exit strategy, and objected to provisions in the spending measure that would deepen U.S. military and intelligence cooperation with Israel. Last week, Senate Democrats blocked a separate $1 trillion annual defense bill in protest of the war, a rare rebuke of a sitting commander in chief on national security.

Hegseth defended the campaign as necessary to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil flows and which Tehran has repeatedly threatened to close. He said the Pentagon had a plan to escalate "if necessary," a comment that drew immediate pushback from lawmakers wary of a wider Middle East war. The committee is expected to weigh the supplemental request in the coming days, setting up a bruising fight over both the cost and the purpose of America's longest sustained military engagement in years.