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Pentagon Claims It Needs Additional $200 Billion to Pay for War on Iran

“Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” said Pete Hegseth, when asked about the funding request.

Nick Turse

March 19 2026, 1:52 p.m.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine provide updates on the continued military operations on Iran during a press briefing on the Iran war at the Pentagon on March 19, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

Pete Hegseth and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, provide updates on the continued military operations on Iran during a press briefing on the Iran war at the Pentagon on March 19, 2026, in Arlington, Va. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Pentagon wants $200 billion in supplemental funds to pay for its war on Iran, a defense official told The Intercept. That sum is four times the amount originally floated by Pentagon officials. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said that number could even increase.

The request for the additional $200 billion has been sent to the White House, which normally reviews requests before they go to Congress, according to the defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about the pending proposal. The $200 billion ask, first reported by the Washington Post, is in addition to a record-setting $1.5 trillion War Department budget request for 2027.

“Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said when asked about the request during a press conference on Thursday. “As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move.”

Hegseth spoke only in terms of immediate costs of the war. “We’re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is everything’s refilled, and not just refilled but above and beyond,” he explained.

Immediate war expenses will, however, be dwarfed by estimates offered by experts in the costs of war, lawmakers experienced with the Pentagon budget, and government officials briefed on Operation Epic Fury.

“Now, Secretary Hegseth wants $200 billion for a war that Congress never authorized?”

“Taxpayers haven’t gotten any clarity from the administration about the goals or costs of this war. To date, all we’ve seen are ballpark estimates, and lowballed ones at that. Now, Secretary Hegseth wants $200 billion for a war that Congress never authorized?” said Gabe Murphy, a policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog advocating for an end to wasteful spending.

Linda Bilmes, who co-authored “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict” with economist Joseph Stiglitz, previously told The Intercept that short-term expenses — like munitions, costs of deploying aircraft carrier strike groups, and aircraft lost — will pale in comparison to long-term expenditures such as the costs of veterans’ benefits and interest on war debt. She said the cost of the conflict could ultimately reach into the trillions of dollars.

Costs will rise dramatically if the 50,000 U.S. troops deployed around the Middle East file disability claims at the typical rate due to exposure to “toxins, contamination, acid rain, dust from infrastructure destruction, and burning oil fumes,” Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said.

A new war also makes it more likely for Congress to approve a bigger Pentagon budget going forward, Bilmes told The Intercept. “That becomes the base budget and, over a decade, it’s another trillion dollars added to the defense budget.”

Murphy said the supplemental request raises fundamental questions for which the War Department and White House have yet to offer answers.

“$200 billion is 20 percent of the Pentagon’s budget this year. This is much more than the direct cost of the war so far, and likely more than will be needed anytime soon,” he said. “This request begs the question: Is the Pentagon just trying to pad its already-massive budget, or is the administration planning for a protracted war?”