Hegseth seeks $70B more for Iran war as cost hits $37.5B

In the long arc of American wars, the pattern is familiar: a conflict begins without formal declaration, costs mount faster than anticipated, and the legislature is asked to ratify what the executive has already set in motion. In late July 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before a Senate hearing to request $37.5 billion to cover the Iran war's costs to date and $70 billion more to continue it — a sum arriving alongside seventeen American deaths, a hundred wounded, and polls showing most citizens opposed to the enterprise. The request was bundled into a $95 billion reconciliation p