Updated April 29, 2026 — 7:30 PM EDT
Acting comptroller Jules Hurst told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the ongoing conflict in Iran has cost roughly $25 billion to date. Hurst testified alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine as lawmakers reviewed the Defense Department’s $1.5 trillion budget request.
This appearance marked Hegseth’s first public testimony on Capitol Hill since last June, months before the war began.
Members pressed Pentagon leaders about plans to accelerate production of critical munitions and ships to deter threats including China, and some Democrats questioned the administration’s broader Iran strategy now that diplomatic efforts appear stalled.
Rep. Adam Smith, the committee’s ranking member, pushed back on recent public claims by the president that Iran had agreed to relinquish its nuclear program and control over the Strait of Hormuz. “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 anticipated questions about Iran and sharply criticized congressional rhetoric. He accused lawmakers of undercutting national resolve, calling “the biggest adversary we face, at this point, the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans, two months in.” Hegseth noted that his generation remembers extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and stressed that the current conflict is only two months into what he described as “an existential fight for the safety of the American people.” At the outset of the war, the president had said it would last about four to six weeks.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware questioned whether the $25 billion figure captures the full bill, saying he was “frankly certain that that is low.” Coons suggested the estimate might exclude costs associated with 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,” he said.
Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers warned that global munitions stockpiles are depleted and the U.S. lacks capacity to rapidly rebuild depth. Hegseth outlined Pentagon efforts to incentivize industry to scale up production of 14 critical munitions, highlighting interceptors and missiles such as Patriot and THAAD interceptors, SM-3s, SM-6s, AMRAAMs, JASSMs and PrSMs.
Lawmakers signaled further scrutiny ahead as they weigh the defense budget and the administration’s approach to both near-term operations and longer-term strategic competition.