Pentagon seeks $200bn for Iran war — nearly double US spending on Ukraine

The United States Department of Defense is seeking approximately $200 billion in additional funding for the ongoing war with Iran, a sum that would be nearly double the $110 billion Washington has spent supporting Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to a special inspector-general report.

The request, first reported by the Washington Post, involves the Pentagon asking the White House to approve the funding before it is put to Congress. President Donald Trump confirmed it on Thursday at a White House event.

When asked why so much was needed, given his earlier statements that the conflict would end soon, Trump described it as “a very volatile war.” He added that US ammunition stockpiles had been depleted by transfers to Ukraine, saying: “We want to have vast amounts of ammunition, but it was taken down by giving so much to Ukraine.”

The numbers

Congress has approved $188 billion in assistance for Ukraine since the war began, of which approximately $110 billion had been disbursed as of last December, the inspector-general report notes. The $200 billion Iran request would, if approved, represent the single largest emergency military funding package in recent American history.

On Sunday, Kevin Hassett, Trump’s economic adviser, said the war had already cost the United States $12 billion since it began.

Mixed signals on duration

The timeframe for the conflict remains opaque. When the United States and Israel struck Iran on 28th February, Trump predicted the war could last four to five weeks, though he allowed it could run longer. Last week he suggested it might end soon. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps offered a pointed rejoinder: “Iran will determine when the war ends.”

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to confirm the $200 billion figure directly but offered little to dispel it. “It takes money to kill bad guys,” he said, adding that the funding bill would ensure the department was “properly funded going forward” for “what we may have to do in the future.”

Trump, for his part, framed the expenditure as prudent. “We want to be in the best shape we’ve ever been in,” he said. “It’s a small price to pay.”