Updated on: April 29, 2026 / 7:30 PM EDT / CBS News
The conflict in Iran has cost about $25 billion so far, acting comptroller Jules Hurst testified before the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.
Hurst appeared alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine as they discussed the Defense Department’s $1.5 trillion budget request. This was Hegseth’s first public testimony on the Hill since last June, months before the war began.
Lawmakers pressed the Pentagon on efforts to ramp up production of critical munitions and ships to deter threats such as China, and some Democrats questioned the Trump administration’s overall Iran strategy now that talks appear stalled.
Rep. Adam Smith, the committee’s ranking member, said President Trump’s recent remark that Iran had agreed to give up everything — including its nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz — has not been borne out. “So wish fulfillment is not really a strategy,” Smith said. “What we need to hear today is what is going to work.”
In his opening remarks, Hegseth said he expected questions on Iran and criticized Congress, calling “the biggest adversary we face, at this point, the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans, two months in.” He noted his generation remembers the long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and emphasized this is only two months into “an existential fight for the safety of the American people.” At the outset of the war, President Trump said it would last about four to six weeks.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware expressed doubt that $25 billion reflects the full cost, saying he was “frankly certain that that is low,” and suggesting the estimate may not include the costs of deploying and sustaining forces in theater. “It may be that it’s $25 billion in munitions that have been dropped, but that is not the total cost of the war by any understanding,” Coons said.
Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers warned that global munition stockpiles are low and the U.S. lacks capacity to rapidly restock magazine depth. Hegseth outlined efforts to encourage industry to ramp up production of 14 critical munitions, including Patriot and THAAD interceptors and missile systems such as SM-3s, SM-6s, AMRAAMs, JASSMs and PrSMs.
In:
– Iran
– Pete Hegseth
– United States Department of Defense