Hegseth asks Senate for $67 billion more for Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked senators for another $67 billion to keep paying for the war against Iran, as he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine faced their first public budget hearing on the conflict before the Senate Appropriations Committee at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. The session came days after an escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict left three American service members dead, and it immediately turned into a test of how far Congress will let the administration go, and at what cost.

Hegseth told lawmakers the Iran war had cost $37.5 billion so far. That figure was notably higher than earlier Pentagon estimates cited during the conflict, which put the bill at about $25 billion and then about $29 billion, underscoring how quickly the price tag has climbed as operations continue. The broader package was larger still: BBC reporting said Hegseth was briefing lawmakers on $87.6 billion in additional funding overall, not just the Iran war request alone.

Lawmakers from both parties pressed Hegseth and Caine on the legal and strategic basis for the campaign. Senators demanded details on the war authorization, whether a ceasefire path exists, and how the Pentagon is accounting for war costs. The hearing was described as lawmakers’ first public oversight of the administration’s $67 billion request, putting the administration’s financing plan under direct scrutiny on Capitol Hill.

The exchange put the financial and strategic burden of the Iran war in the center of the Senate fight. Appropriators were not just being asked to sign off on billions more for the Pentagon; they were being asked to trust that the administration can explain how long the war will last, what the mission is designed to achieve, and how the United States gets out of it. Those unanswered questions now sit alongside the mounting cost figures, with Congress weighing whether to approve more money before it has a fuller accounting of the war itself.