President Donald Trump requested $67 billion in supplemental funding in June to help finance the war and rebuild munitions stockpiles, with Pentagon officials warning of a budget crunch if lawmakers don’t allocate extra cash. Efforts to fast-track war funding have sputtered on Capitol Hill and likely won’t see further action until after the elections.
The Pentagon’s inspector general on Monday also detailed the immediate financial costs and impact to inventories of weapons. The Defense Department watchdog estimated in a report that operations against Iran had cost $33.4 billion as of June, with $22.3 billion of that coming from munitions.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators in a July hearing that the war had cost $37.5 billion over the first five months, similar to what the independent evaluation determined. The Pentagon chief has argued the price tag is a necessary expense to deal with the threat posed by Tehran and publicly downplayed concerns about munitions stockpiles.
Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, requested the assessment in March, just days after the war began.
It comes less than two months before midterm elections that will be dominated by the impacts of the Iran war, including higher fuel and consumer prices. Democrats have sought to tie Republican lawmakers’ support for the conflict — and the resulting higher costs — to an affordability crisis at home.
“Donald Trump and Republicans have spent years telling Americans that we cannot afford to help families here at home,” Boyle said in a statement. “But apparently they can find tens of billions of dollars, and potentially much more, for a reckless war that is leaving Americans to pay the price.”
The report said the conflict has contributed to higher than expected inflation due to reduced shipments of oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, a key pathway for global energy supplies, as well as disruptions in shipping through the Red Sea.
Democrats seized on the report, doubling down on arguments that Trump and Republicans have exacerbated an affordability crisis with the war.
“Trump’s illegal war with Iran is a one-two punch that’s burning a hole in Americans’ pockets and burning a hole in our munitions supply, hurting our military readiness,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of the Senate Democrats who also requested CBO study the costs of the war.
