WASHINGTON — Costs of the ongoing war with Iran have crept up to $29 billion, the Pentagon’s comptroller said today, charting $4 billion in growth since department officials first disclosed the cost of Operation Epic Fury to lawmakers about two weeks ago.
The bulk of that sum, or about $24 billion, is linked to the price of repairing or replacing equipment such as munitions, drones and aircraft, Jules “Jay” Hurst, who is performing the duties of the Pentagon’s top finance officer, told lawmakers.
Hurst — alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine — spoke to House and Senate appropriators during two back-to-back hearings this morning.
“A lot of that increase comes from having a refined estimate on repair and replacement costs for equipment. Our munitions costs are fairly fixed, we think they’re very accurate, and there’s some O&M [operations and maintenance] costs there as well,” he said during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Hurst noted that estimate does not include damage to military installations, as the Pentagon is still weighing whether it will repair those bases.
“We’re not making an estimate for MILCON [military construction] at this time. We don’t know what our future posture is going to be. We don’t know how those bases would be reconstructed, and we don’t know what percentage our allies and partners will pay for that reconstruction,” he said.
During the House hearing, Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, requested the department provide a breakdown of costs associated with the war with Iran.
Specifically, she said she wanted to see a breakdown of costs for military personnel, operational activities, additional maintenance for deployed ships, munitions expenditures, equipment destroyed in operations, updated fuel costs and damage to military installations — all due by June 11, when the committee marks up the defense spending bill.
“I know you’re going to do your best. We’ll take the homework assignment in pieces,” she said. “Anything you can provide would be great.”
When asked about a more formal cost breakdown for the war by Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Hegseth declined to provide more details, saying that “when it’s relevant and required, we’ll share it.”
Lawmakers also pressed Pentagon leaders for additional information about a forthcoming defense supplemental.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif, who chairs the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, said “it would be helpful to get the supplemental sooner rather than later,” adding that the committee is aware of the need to replenish munitions and operations and maintenance accounts.
“We’re well aware of those dynamics,” Hegseth said, but declined to state when a supplemental funding bill would be delivered to Capitol Hill.
At the close of the House hearing, Calvert added that he hoped that Kuwait would pay to replace the three F-15E Strike Eagles shot down by a Kuwaiti pilot in a friendly fire incident in March.
Throughout both hearings, Democrats hammered Hegseth about the conflict, which has resulted in the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and rising oil prices.
Meanwhile, both Hegseth and Caine repeatedly pushed back on reports that US munitions stockpiles have been depleted by ongoing operations.
“We have sufficient munitions for what we’re tasked to do right now,” Caine said, adding that “we always want more.”
Caine declined to comment on intelligence estimates of Iran’s remaining missile and drone capability, saying that battle damage assessments were classified.
Reticent On Reconciliation Spending
Throughout the hearings, Democrats and Republicans across both chambers of Congress banded together to voice concerns about the use of the reconciliation process to fund $350 billion of the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget.
The Trump administration is banking on reconciliation to allow Republicans to pass funding for White House priorities without needing to clear the 60 vote threshold in the Senate — thus eschewing any need for Democrat votes.
READ MORE: Munitions at risk? Inside the Pentagon’s $350B gambit
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he was supportive of the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion request but worried about the dependence on reconciliation, asking Hurst to break down how much of the $350 billion reconciliation request would qualify as one-time expenditures.
Hurst responded that about $200 billion of the reconciliation bill could be considered a “one-time plus up or catch-up” investment, including funds for the defense industrial base, AI and autonomy, and improvements to barracks.
“We think we can sustain these investments over the FYDP [future years defense program] with discretionary dollars after this,” he said.
But Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, specifically pointed to reconciliation funding for munitions, Golden Dome, F-35 and drone dominance as areas where the department will need stable, continued funding through the appropriations process.
“Why is the department requesting funding for multi-year munitions contracts — which, by definition, require steady year-on-year funding — via one-time reconciliation?” McConnell said in his opening remarks. “Why risk some of the president’s top priorities like Golden Dome by not firmly building them into the department’s base budget?”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, underscored the prospect that the $350 billion in reconciliation funding may never materialize.
“A third reconciliation [bill, with money for defense] may or may not happen. I’m just being direct and upfront,” she said. “I don’t know, Mr. Secretary, if you can kind of walk me through why I shouldn’t be worried about this.”
Hegseth could offer no assurances.
“I appreciate that that perspective and share your concern,” he said. “That’s why one of the main efforts — setting aside operations of what everything we do in real time for the troops — is ensuring that both the base discretionary budget and reconciliation are passed so that President Trump’s historic budget is realized.”
Another key point of bipartisan agreement amongst lawmakers was support for Ukraine funding, especially among Senate appropriators, who repeatedly criticized Pentagon leaders for its slow pace in distributing $400 million in funds for Ukraine.
“We’re expecting to see a final spend plan for that this week, and once we have it we can provide it to the Congress,” Hurst said. “I don’t know what they’re putting in the spend plan, so I can’t tell you what the schedule will be for contracting. That will matter — what they choose to buy with that money will determine how fast it goes out the door.”