U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens to questions during a news conference at the Pentagon, March 2, 2026. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – The cost of the Iran war has soared to $29 billion so far, Pentagon officials told lawmakers in both houses on Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and Acting Defense Department Comptroller Jules Hurst faced questions from House and Senate owners during several hours of testimony on the Pentagon’s budget request and the direction of U.S. operations in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The hearings began just as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report inflation data which showed soaring fuel costs pushed overall inflation to its highest level since 2023.
Rep. Betty McCollum, the top Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said she remained skeptical of the Pentagon’s spending because it lacked “sufficient transparency in the face of rising gas prices and inflation rates.”
“Americans just want to be able to afford basic necessities, but this administration is doing nothing to help them with the costs of the cost of living crisis,” the Minnesota lawmaker said.
Inflation
Similarly, Sen. Jack Reed, D-Ill., who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and serves as the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that “vague generalities do not help this committee make critical judgments.”
“And the trade-offs are significant. The deficit is growing dramatically. We have to be conscious of that. We also have to be conscious of helping American families simply survive, and inflation just hit 3.8% today,” Reed said.
The latest consumer price index was up 3.8% from a year ago, up from 3.3% last month, according to the Department of Labor.
Fuel and energy costs largely contributed to the escalate in inflation, with gasoline increasing by 28.4% compared to last year.
Oil and gas prices skyrocketed since the United States joined Israel and launched attacks on Iran on February 28. The protracted conflict has led to a near-total standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a key sea lane off Iran through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flowed before the war.
“It comes at a cost.”
The vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., questioned the Pentagon’s estimate of the war costing $29 billion, calling it “suspiciously low.”
When pressed, Hurst said that figure did not include the cost of damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East. In March, Iran carried out retaliatory attacks on multiple U.S. installations in the region, including an attack on a base in Kuwait that killed six U.S. soldiers.
“Your acting comptroller suggested that this figure did not include damage to U.S. facilities,” Murray told Hegseth. “It is clear that US military assets have suffered extensive damage.”
The secretary said he could not release details about damage to U.S. property.
“I think the important question, given the president’s actions, is what is the cost of Iran getting a nuclear weapon? And the fact that this president was willing to make a historic and bold choice to confront that, there is a cost. And we recognize that,” Hegseth said.
Congressional authorization
Despite continued tit-for-tat attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth told lawmakers that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is still in effect.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked Hegseth whether he thought President Donald Trump would need congressional authorization to continue military action against the Islamic Republic.
“The hostilities do not appear to have ended, so the question for you is, has the administration considered or intended to obtain authorization from Congress to use military force?” she asked.
Hegseth replied, “Senator, our view is that if the president decided to reopen, we would have all the authorities to do so.”
There has been an effort to pass a war powers resolution to stop Trump’s military operations in Iran lost repeatedly in the Republican-led Senate and House of Representatives.
A vote in the House is possible this week on a bipartisan resolution of the war powers.
