Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee for the first time since the US-Iran conflict re-escalated this month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the war has already cost USD 37.5 billion, warning that the price tag is expected to rise as military operations continue while offering little clarity on how or when the conflict would end, even as President Donald Trump threatened fresh military action against Iran.
Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth sought congressional approval for a USD 87.6 billion supplemental funding package, including more than USD 67 billion for military operations, arguing that the United States must prepare for an increasingly dangerous global security environment.
The hearing, the first since the US-Iran conflict sharply escalated this month, quickly turned into a tense scrutiny of the administration’s war strategy, with lawmakers from both parties questioning the soaring “financial cost, mounting casualties and the absence of a clearly defined endgame.”
Hegseth disclosed that the conflict has already “cost USD 37.5 billion, a figure that includes operational expenses through the end of the current fiscal year.”
“As you know, we live in a dangerous world that requires bold and swift action,” Hegseth told lawmakers. “This request is an urgent, necessary injection of resources to address the immediate needs of our department.”
He described the supplemental package as part of a broader effort to strengthen military readiness, replace equipment consumed during combat operations and accelerate production of advanced weapons.
The Pentagon is seeking USD 20 billion to replenish equipment, sustain forward-deployed forces, strengthen troop numbers and maintain National Guard readiness, while another USD 40 billion would expand production of hypersonic weapons, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), counter-drone systems, solid rocket motors and resilient satellite networks.
“We’re talking about solid rocket motors, Joint Direct Attack Munitions, hypersonics and counter-drone capabilities,” Hegseth said. “Additionally, we will use this investment to secure digital and space dominance.”
Despite the massive funding request, Hegseth stopped short of explaining what would constitute victory in the conflict.
Rather than distancing themselves from the administration’s handling of the conflict, Republican senators largely rallied behind the Pentagon’s strategy despite growing public opposition to the war.
Democrats, however, seized on what they described as a widening gap between the administration’s early declarations of victory and the reality of a costly military stalemate.
The hearing grew increasingly combative as Democratic lawmakers accused the administration of asking for billions more without explaining either the strategy or the likely duration of the war.
One of the hearing’s sharpest exchanges came when Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff confronted Hegseth over the administration’s earlier claims that Iran’s military had been effectively defeated.
“You will not answer whether your statement made on the 14th day of the war that Iran’s military had been ‘destroyed’ and made ‘combat ineffective’ was a truthful statement to the American people, as you sit here and ask for tens of billions of dollars more,” Ossoff asked.
“Has Iran’s military been for the last four months combat ineffective?” the Senator asked.
Hegseth responded by stating Iran’s military has been set back “not just years,” but likely “decades” but noted that the diminished army still has “capabilities.”
“No one ever stated that every single missile was gone. Ultimately, combat-ineffective means they’re not able to dig them out of their UGFs and shoot them,” the defense secretary said.
“It doesn’t mean they don’t have underground facilities where they put missiles in them and hold on to them because they’re the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he added.
“You asked me what the overarching objective is, and I would say ensuring Iran never has a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said. He later added: “Ultimately, a lot of the strikes … are taking Iran’s ability to see and sense away in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The defence secretary also confirmed that the US military has continued a largely “covert” operation to escort commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying American forces had helped secure the passage of nearly 500 million barrels of oil despite repeated Iranian attacks.
When pressed about reports that Trump is considering strikes on Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facility beneath Pickaxe Mountain, Hegseth declined to discuss military capabilities.
“A lot of our capabilities are classified,” he said, hours after Trump declared that the United States would hit the target “pretty soon.”
Gen. Dan Caine said military commanders would continue presenting the president with “the appropriate options and risks” before any further escalation, adding that the human cost of the conflict remained a central factor in military planning.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand also questioned the administration’s justification for expanding the war while Americans continue to struggle with rising prices.
“Secretary Hegseth, you’re requesting billions of dollars in supplemental funding for a war that you said would last for weeks and that the president has no plan or ability to end,” she said.
She accused the administration of placing an “unpopular and unauthorized war abroad” ahead of Americans’ economic concerns.
Hegseth fired back, accusing Gillibrand of “trying to make campaign commercials.”
Michigan Senator Gary Peters launched one of the sharpest attacks of the hearing, calling Hegseth’s leadership “a failure” and raising concerns about the administration’s overall handling of the conflict.
Hegseth rejected the criticism, insisting the supplemental funding would ensure US forces remained fully prepared for growing challenges across Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
“It is an imperative that Americans understand that the character of war is changing,” Gen. Caine told lawmakers. “Advances in technology are fundamentally and irreversibly changing the way we fight.”
Yet by the end of the hearing, lawmakers had received no timeline for ending the conflict or clear explanation of how success would ultimately be measured, even as Trump continued to signal that the war could widen further with another strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
