Iran war has cost U.S. an estimated $25B thus far, Pentagon official says

The Pentagon’s chief financial officer said Wednesday to a congressional committee that the war with Iran has cost an estimated $25 billion US so far, as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gave public testimony for the first time since airstrikes were launched on Feb. 28.

The hearing before the House’s armed services committee was being held to discuss the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defence spending to a historic $1.5 trillion US, even as the Pentagon has failed several spending audits. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, are due to meet with a Senate panel on Thursday.

Democrats quickly pivoted at the House hearing to the ballooning costs of the war, the huge drawdown of critical U.S. munitions and the bombing of a school that killed children.

“You can win a whole lot of little small battles and lose the war, which is why you don’t stumble into the war in the first place,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee.

“As I look at it, the strategy seems to be to use as much violence, as much threats, as much coercion as possible to bend the world to our will.”

Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of war for finances, surprised Smith by giving the war cost estimate, an answer that Democrats have complained has been elusive to date. Most of that money was spent on munitions, Hurst said, with expenditures also for running Operation Epic Fury, as the U.S. side of the war is known, and replacing equipment.

Deadline for re-authorization looms

While a fragile ceasefire is now in place, the U.S. launched the war on Feb. 28, along with Israel, without congressional oversight. House and Senate Democrats have failed to pass multiple war power resolutions that would have required President Donald Trump to halt the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.

The countries appear locked in a stalemate, with Trump unlikely to accept Tehran’s latest offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s closing of the strait, a vital shipping corridor for the world’s oil, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and posed problems for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.

Democrats are eyeing Friday, when a 60-day deadline under the War Powers Act passes. By law, the president needs authorization from Congress for an extension.

Republicans have said they will keep faith in Trump’s wartime leadership, for now, citing Iran’s nuclear program, the potential for talks to resume and the high stakes of withdrawal. Still, they are eager for the conflict to end, and some are eyeing future votes that could become an important test for the president if the war drags on.

Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House armed service committee, opened Wednesday’s hearing by focusing on Trump’s call to increase military spending. He pointed to recent increases in defence spending by China, Russia and Iran.

“We don’t have enough munitions, ships, aircraft or autonomous systems to ensure dominance against every adversary,” Rogers said. “They are spending more of their GDP on defence than we are.”

Hegseth at one point said that “the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”

But he stunned Smith by asserting that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated in the 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer attacks conducted by the U.S. and Israel.

“We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”

Hegseth responded by saying that Iran “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles.

Uranium at Isfahan

The head of the UN nuclear agency told The Associated Press in an interview published Wednesday that the majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely still at its Isfahan nuclear complex.

Rafael Grossi said in an interview conducted on Tuesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) he leads has satellite images showing the effects of the latest U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran and that “we continue to get information.”

IAEA inspections ended at Isfahan when Israel last June launched a 12-day war that saw the United States bomb three Iranian nuclear sites.

The UN nuclear watchdog believes a large percentage of Iran’s highly enriched uranium was stored there “when the 12-day war broke out, and it has been there ever since,” Grossi said.

Images from an Airbus satellite show a truck loaded with 18 blue containers going into a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center on June 9, 2025, just before the start of that war. Those containers, believed to contain highly enriched uranium, likely remain there.

Grossi said the IAEA hasn’t been able to “inspect or to reject that the material is there,” and that it also wants to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and Fordo.

Iran wants to defer nuclear talks

Iran has 440.9 kilograms of uranium that is enriched up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, according to the agency. Grossi has said the IAEA believes roughly 200 kilograms is stored at Isfahan.

The Iranian stockpile could allow the country to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, Grossi told the AP last year.

Tehran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful.

Grossi said the IAEA has discussed with Russia and others the possibility of sending Iran’s highly enriched uranium out of the country — a complex operation that would require either a political agreement or a major U.S. military operation in hostile territory.

Grossi said the IAEA participated in the last cycle of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in February but hasn’t been part of recent ceasefire negotiations mediated by Pakistan. He said the agency has been in discussions separately with the U.S. and informally with Iran.

Iran has reportedly called on the U.S. to settle matters concerning the Strait of Hormuz and defer talks on the future of its nuclear program.