A top Pentagon official testified on Tuesday that the cost of the war with Iran had risen to around $29 billion, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused repeatedly to tell members of Congress how much he would request on an emergency basis, or when, to fund the 11-week-old conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs,\u201d Mr. Hurst said.<\/p>\n
But in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill, Mr. Hegseth sidestepped questions about how much money outside of the Pentagon\u2019s normal budget would ultimately be needed to finance the war \u2014 and when he would request it \u2014 even as Republicans and Democrats alike pressed him for details.<\/p>\n
He also made it clear that the administration had no intention of seeking authorization from Congress to continue operations in Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be helpful to get the supplemental sooner rather than later so we can get to work on it,\u201d Representative Ken Calvert of California, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee told the secretary, inquiring about when a funding request would be submitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, the munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated,\u201d Mr. Hegseth replied. \u201cWe know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever we think we need, we will submit,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The White House told Congress earlier this month that hostilities with Iran had terminated<\/a> amid a cease-fire. On Tuesday, however, Republicans and Democrats raised questions about the cost of the continuing military operation in the region and the durability of the cease-fire that the administration was relying on to make that claim.<\/p>\n Mr. Hegseth was on Capitol Hill to testify to House and Senate appropriations subcommittees reviewing the Pentagon\u2019s nearly $1.45 trillion budget request for the coming year<\/a>.<\/p>\n His assertion that munitions had not been depleted by the war was difficult to square with the Defense Department\u2019s historically large request, which includes a large infusion for restocking munitions.<\/p>\n The war has forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe. The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China and have forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions, officials in the Trump administration and in Congress have said.<\/p>\n But Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also sought to allay fears that the war had significantly drained much of the U.S. military\u2019s global supply of munitions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have sufficient munitions for what we\u2019re tasked to do right now,\u201d General Caine said, citing what he said top commanders around the world had told him.<\/p>\n