Pentagon seeks $80 billion from Congress for Iran war
[June 23, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has told senators it needs roughly $80
billion, mostly to cover the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, adding
to what is already a sizable military spending boost being sought by
President Donald Trump.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to make a formal
request to Congress. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making
the rounds on Capitol Hill, including Monday evening. A top deputy
defense secretary told senators about the Iran funding request last
week, according to two people familiar with the situation but not
authorized to discuss it publicly.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the developments.
Push for Pentagon money faces skeptical lawmakers
The push for billions of dollars in Iran war funding comes at a fraught
political moment. Lawmakers are skeptical of the deal Trump struck with
Iran to bring an end to the war, and wary of next steps. The White House
has requested a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — a nearly 50%
increase over the current fiscal year's funding levels.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s expecting a supplemental
spending request from the administration for the war, and when it
arrives, “we’ll work through it and see where the votes are.”
“We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to replenish,
resupply a lot our munitions that have been depleted — not only just
with what’s happening with Iran, but prior to that,” said Thune, R-S.D.
Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg spoke to several senators
about the proposal in calls last week and he notified congressional
committees that the $80 billion request had been sent to the Office of
Management and Budget. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
However, the funding package will almost certainly run into trouble from
lawmakers who refuse to support Trump's decision to go to war and are
reluctant to give the Pentagon more money at a time of high costs of
living for Americans at home.
“You’re spending families’ hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many
strongly oppose,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray told Hegseth in a hearing
last month.
Trump seeks a record $1.5 trillion for Defense this year
In addition to the Iran funding, Republicans hope to secure about $1.1
trillion through the regular appropriations process, which typically
requires support from both parties for approval. Then, they hope to
secure an additional $350 billion through a mostly party-line vote later
this summer.
The amount being sought by the Pentagon is far higher than the $29
billion estimate of war costs that Hegseth gave Congress during his
testimony last month. The bulk of that amount was related to replacing
munitions and repairing equipment but also included operational costs to
keep forces deployed. That estimate did not include the cost to repair
or rebuild U.S. military sites damaged in the region.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks in the Oval Office of the
White House during an executive order signing about quantum
computing with President Donald Trump, Monday, June 22, 2026, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
It's also far lower than the initial $200 billion the Pentagon
floated as the costs at the start of the war. An early estimate put
the cost of the first week of the war at $11.3 billion.
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a member of Democratic party
leadership, said he expects the actual price tag could be much
higher than the $80 billion being proposed.
Schatz said he hasn't done any counting of Democrats about whether
there is support for an Iran-focused bill, “but I haven't found
anyone who wants to do this.”
But Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana said, "To me it’s less
about the war, it’s more about the stockpiles.”
Banks said, “I would sell it to my state as an investment in our
defense industrial base, reshoring defense production to Indiana.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, said funding for an Iran supplemental can't be done in
isolation. It has to be done after lawmakers from both parties have
agreed to a total spending amount for both defense and non-defense
programs, “then the rest of this would follow pretty quickly,” Reed
said.
And Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, a member of the Appropriations
subcommittee on Defense, said he has been working with the
administration to broaden the package to include funds for disaster
aid for California, Hawaii and other states hard hit by fires and
weather problems, as well as agricultural aid for farmers.
“I think that’s the kind of combination that could pass,” Hoeven
said.
Hegseth declined to answer questions from reporters late Monday as
he strode around the Capitol.
But on the issue of the cost of the war, Hegseth responded
rhetorically during a Senate hearing last month, asking, “What is
the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?"
He acknowledged the president's decision to confront the threat of a
nuclear Iran "comes with cost — and we recognize that.”
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Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Ben Finley
contributed to this report.
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