Jules Hurst, acting comptroller at the Ministry of Defense, said before the House Armed Services Committee that most of this amount was spent on ammunition, noting that the administration is working on preparing a supplementary budget that will be submitted to Congress after an assessment of the cost of the conflict is completed.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth returned during the same session to reduce the accuracy of the number, stressing that current estimates indicate that the cost is less than $25 billion, before defending the spending by saying that the main question is the price worth paying to ensure that Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon.
The session witnessed criticism from Democratic lawmakers, who wondered whether the Trump administration had previously estimated the economic burdens of the military campaign, especially with the rise in energy prices and the repercussions of disruption to navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
When asked whether the Pentagon expected Iran to resort to closing the Strait in response to the strikes, Hegseth said that the Department of Defense had studied “all aspects of this risk.”
The United States and Israel began a massive air campaign against Iran on February 28, before President Donald Trump extended the initial ceasefire indefinitely, without ending the political and economic repercussions of the war.
Previous American reports also indicated that American forces suffered losses in a number of aircraft during the war, including the F-15 and A-10, in incidents that increased pressure on the American administration as the confrontation continued.
