The estimated cost of the conflict with Iran has surged to $29 billion<\/strong>, a senior Pentagon official informed lawmakers on Tuesday, even as the U.S. asserts that combat operations have largely ceased.<\/p>\n This latest figure, presented by acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst during budget hearings before House and Senate Appropriations panels, marks an increase from the $25 billion<\/strong> reported to lawmakers last month. Despite the rise, the estimate remains considerably lower than projections from independent sources. The announcement comes amidst a precarious ceasefire, ongoing naval blockades, soaring gasoline prices, and diminishing public support for the war.<\/p>\n Hurst explained to senators, testifying alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine, that a significant portion of the increase stems from “a refined estimate on repair and replacement costs for equipment.”<\/p>\n This substantial cost for equipment is the primary driver behind the $4 billion<\/strong> increase, though the estimate also encompasses operational expenditures and munitions. Notably, the current calculation does not yet include the expenses for repairing U.S. facilities in the Middle East, which sustained damage from Iranian counterattacks.<\/p>\n “We don\u2019t know what our future posture is going to be,” Hurst stated. “We don\u2019t know how those bases would be reconstructed and we don\u2019t know what percentage our allies and partners will pay for that reconstruction.”<\/p>\n Democratic senators, however, were quick to criticize the updated estimate, contending that the administration is deliberately understating the true cost of a war with no clear resolution, expecting Congress to bear the financial burden. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, described the latest figures as “suspiciously low.”<\/p>\n Murray asserted, “You\u2019re spending families\u2019 hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose, and you\u2019re forcing many to pay more at the pump, and yet you\u2019re not even providing a real breakdown of the cost of this war so far.”<\/p>\n In defense of the administration’s stance, Hegseth argued that the financial costs were justified by the grave risks posed by Tehran.<\/p>\n “What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?” Hegseth questioned Murray. “This president has been willing to make a historic and courageous choice to confront that. It comes with costs and we recognize that.”<\/p>\n Hegseth, Caine, and Hurst were presenting the final public case for the Trump administration\u2019s unprecedented $1.5 trillion<\/strong> defense budget during consecutive hearings at the House and Senate Defense Appropriations panels on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n This budget proposal does not account for an anticipated supplemental funding request specifically for the Iran conflict. While the White House has not yet submitted such a request, reports since the war’s inception suggest that a potential supplemental package could reach as high as $200 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Democrats have voiced concerns that the Pentagon has provided insufficient details regarding the 10-week conflict.<\/p>\n Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) remarked, “You\u2019re coming up and asking for another significant supplemental, and before we can, I think, reasonably appropriate additional money, we have to find out how the existing appropriated dollars have been spent.”<\/p>\n #IranWar #PentagonBudget #MilitarySpending #USPolitics #DefenseBudget #MiddleEastConflict #WarCosts #CongressionalHearings #NationalSecurity #TaxpayerMoney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pentagon’s Iran War Cost Estimate Climbs to $29 Billion Amid Ceasefire The estimated cost of the conflict with Iran has surged to $29 billion, a senior Pentagon official informed lawmakers on Tuesday, even as the U.S. asserts that combat operations have largely ceased. This latest figure, presented by acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst during budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iran-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}