The US Department of War, the Pentagon, is facing mounting financial and political pressure as the war against Iran enters its fifth month.
President Donald Trump’s administration is asking Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in emergency funding, while criticism is intensifying in both the House of Representatives and the Senate over the war’s cost, objectives and military value.
The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is confronting a funding shortfall described by US officials as “urgent”, with some budget allocations expected to run out within weeks.
The financial strain has already begun affecting military readiness through reduced training cycles, delayed maintenance and the transfer of funds from weapons programmes to operational expenses.
According to the report, the White House has requested a US$67 billion emergency funding package to cover the war’s growing costs. Political divisions between Republicans and Democrats, combined with the approaching congressional summer recess, could delay its approval.
“Everyone needs to look at this situation and shake themselves out of the complacency they are living in,” Republican Representative Pat Harrigan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the newspaper.
The Washington Post said the war had placed particular pressure on the budgets of the US Air Force and Navy as aircraft carriers, bombers and warships remain deployed across the Middle East.
The Pentagon is seeking congressional approval to redirect US$4.3 billion from military training and weapons procurement budgets to cover immediate requirements.
The crisis extends beyond short-term financing. Military officials have expressed growing concern about declining US ammunition stockpiles following their intensive use in operations against Iran, warning that the depletion could affect Washington’s ability to deter rivals such as Russia and China.
Congress Confronts Hegseth
Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the conflict had so far cost US$37.5 billion.
“Failing to properly fund the Pentagon may be the single greatest threat facing the United States,” he said, according to a Washington Times report by correspondent Mike Glenn.
Hegseth said the administration’s request for additional funding formed part of Trump’s strategy of “peace through strength”.
“The best way to achieve peace is to prepare for war and deter our adversaries,” he said.
The hearing quickly descended into heated political exchanges.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray accused the Trump administration of concealing the war’s true cost.
“Taxpayer dollars that could have been used to help people afford healthcare or build new housing have now been burned by a president who clumsily dragged us into a disastrous war,” she said, according to The Washington Times.
Hegseth responded by blaming the administration of former president Joe Biden for declining military readiness, citing what he described as “neglect and social experiments”.
Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused Hegseth of gross negligence and attempting to conceal his failures.
Reed said the administration had failed to warn the president in advance that the war could result in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a sharp rise in global oil prices.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, however, expressed full support for the emergency funding request.
He said US forces required additional resources to maintain military readiness and accelerate the production of ammunition, missiles and drones.
Doubts Over the Official Narrative
The American news website The Daily Beast focused on a sharp exchange during the same hearing between Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and Hegseth.
According to the report, Ossoff confronted the secretary over statements he had made only two weeks after the war began, when he described Iran’s military as “destroyed” and “unable to fight”.
Hegseth later claimed that the United States had “achieved all of its objectives”.
Ossoff repeatedly pressed him for a “yes or no” answer on whether those statements had been accurate and whether Iran’s military power had truly been neutralised for years to come.
Hegseth eventually acknowledged that Iran still retained offensive capabilities, saying that the earlier assessment “does not mean it has lost all of its capabilities”.
Ossoff described the admission as inconsistent with previous claims that all the war’s objectives had been achieved.
These political disputes come as American opinion polls cited by The Washington Post show declining public support for the war.
Concern is growing over the continued depletion of military and financial resources, with no clear indication that the conflict is nearing an end or that a political settlement is within reach.
Dispute Over the War Budget
In a report by two of its journalists, The Hill said Hegseth had updated the direct cost of the war to US$37.5 billion, an increase from earlier estimates of around US$30 billion.
The figure includes military operations through July, service members’ salaries and expected expenses through the end of the financial year in September.
The website said Hegseth dismissed independent estimates, including a Harvard University report suggesting that the war’s real cost had approached US$100 billion.
The rising figures prompted Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to tell Hegseth: “You are asking for unlimited money for bombs while people cannot afford to feed their families.”
Hegseth replied: “I am not asking for unlimited bombs. I am asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries in the future.”
He also acknowledged that Russia and China were providing different forms of support to Iran during the war.
Hegseth described the development as a “convergence among adversaries”, but declined to provide details about the scale of the support, citing classified information.
General Dan Caine said the military would always seek alternatives and develop contingency plans.
However, he warned that inadequate funding would place significant pressure on operations, maintenance and military salaries, as well as programmes involving artificial intelligence, drones and space capabilities.
Democrats questioned the justification for requesting additional funding while the Pentagon still held tens of billions of dollars in unspent allocations from previous budgets.
According to The Hill, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen asked why Pentagon officials were demanding that Americans pay for a war they did not support instead of using funds that had already been appropriated but remained unspent.
Hegseth said those funds had already been allocated to strategic projects, including the Golden Dome missile defence system and expanded production of hypersonic weapons.
Redirecting the money, he argued, would amount to “stealing from one project to give to another”.
Criticism Over Dismissals and the Absence of a Victory Strategy
During another part of the hearing, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, a Republican, sharply criticised Hegseth over his dismissal of several senior military officers since taking office.
She described the removals as “deeply troubling” and warned that they could discourage women and minority groups from joining the US armed forces.
Senator Gary Peters accused the administration of lacking “a clear strategy for victory” and warned that the United States risked entering another “forever war”.
Hegseth responded forcefully, arguing that describing the war as a failure insulted the sacrifices of American soldiers.
He then accused some Democrats of refusing to fund the military because of what he called “Trump derangement syndrome”.
Growing Doubts Over the Path to Victory
In a more critical assessment of the hearing, Holly Baxter of Britain’s The Independent wrote that Hegseth appeared confused and unable to provide convincing justification for the request for additional funding.
She said he repeatedly blamed the former Biden administration for the Pentagon’s current problems rather than answering direct questions about the war and its cost.
Baxter noted that Hegseth continued speaking about “rebuilding the military” and the “mistakes of the Biden administration”, even when questioned about the conflict’s direct financial burden.
He was eventually forced to acknowledge that the war had cost the United States US$37.5 billion.
She also argued that continuing Iranian attacks, rising oil and fertiliser prices, and American military deaths contradicted earlier claims of a decisive victory.
The request for tens of billions of dollars in additional funding, she wrote, has raised further questions about the war’s actual duration.
The latest hearing reflects an expanding division in Washington.
One side views additional funding as necessary to preserve military deterrence. The other argues that continued spending without a clear strategy or a declared end to the war could produce prolonged financial and military exhaustion.
As the conflict continues, the battle over funding inside Congress may prove even more complicated than the fighting taking place on the ground..
