Pentagon says Iran war spending hits $29 billion as defense costs rise

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States spending on the Iran war has reached $29 billion, a senior Pentagon official said during a testimony at a Senate defense budget hearing on Tuesday, as efforts to reach a comprehensive end to the conflict remain stalled amid delayed negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

“As of this morning, our verified operational outlays and replacement costs for the conflict with Iran have reached $29 billion,” said Jules Hurst III, the Acting Under Secretary of Defense.

Appearing alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, Hurst was asked by Senator Jack Reed about the jump from the $25 billion figure reported by Hegseth in late April to the current total.

The figure “reflects a necessary, though significant, $4 billion adjustment over the last fortnight to account for the accelerated attrition of our precision-guided munitions and the heightened tempo of carrier strike group operations in the Gulf,” the senior Pentagon official explained.

Hurst further noted that "a lot of that increase comes from having refined estimates on repair and replacement cost of equipment," adding that "our munitions costs are fairly fixed."

The US and Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran on February 28, striking more than 17,000 sites across the country during six weeks of hostilities.

Senators said during Tuesday’s hearing that Iran had struck more than 200 US structures or pieces of military equipment since the conflict began. Acting Under Secretary of Defense also said the Pentagon has yet to estimate military construction costs, noting that “we don’t know how these bases are going to be reconstructed.”

The warring sides agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting the fighting and paving the way for negotiations. While the first round of talks ended on April 11 without a final agreement, a second round has yet to take place, leaving a broader resolution pending.

In parallel with the diplomatic efforts, Iran and the US have engaged in tit-for-tat maritime measures. Tehran has tightened its grip on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington initiated a maritime blockade on Iranian ports on April 13.

Earlier in the week, the American website Axios reported that Washington and Tehran are moving closer to agreeing on a one-page memorandum of understanding that could end hostilities and establish a framework for broader nuclear talks, according to US officials and sources familiar with the matter.

However, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that “the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, 'Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living.”

A day earlier, Trump rejected Iran’s response to the US proposal aimed at ending months of conflict. “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.