$11 Billion Burned in One Week! Pentagon Issues Shocking Bill: $200 Billion More Needed to Deal with Iran

The United States is rapidly “burning money” in the Middle East: to cover the massive weapon expenditures of the past three weeks, the Pentagon is pressuring the White House to request up to $200 billion in “sky-high” military funding.

According to a senior government official, the Pentagon has asked the White House to approve submitting a request for over $200 billion to Congress to cover costs in the Iran war. This enormous new proposal is almost certain to face strong opposition from lawmakers opposed to involvement in the conflict.

Three other informed sources confirmed that the Department of Defense is indeed seeking such a large amount of funding. They said this figure will far exceed the actual costs of the large-scale airstrikes conducted so far by this administration, with the real goal being to urgently expand the capacity of key weapons—over the past three weeks, as U.S. and Israeli forces targeted thousands of sites, these weapons and munitions have been heavily depleted.

It is currently unclear how much funding the White House will ultimately ask Congress to approve. The senior official stated that some White House officials believe the likelihood of Congress approving this huge request is low. According to the official and three other sources, over the past two weeks, the Pentagon has already submitted several different funding proposals.

Given the public support for this war remains lukewarm, coupled with sharp criticism from Democrats, this funding request is likely to trigger a major political showdown on Capitol Hill. While Republicans have hinted they will support the upcoming supplemental funding request, they have not yet made clear legislative commitments or identified a clear path to surpass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

During his campaign, President Trump vowed to end America’s overseas adventurism and frequently criticized the Biden administration for approving large sums of money to fund the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to the Special Inspector General for the Atlantic Resolve, as of December last year, Congress had approved about $188 billion for expenses related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Department of Defense declined to comment, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Several officials said the cost of the Iran war is soaring rapidly, exceeding $11 billion in just the first week. Shortly after the start of joint U.S.-Israeli military operations at the end of last month, the Trump administration began preparing an additional funding request to cover expenses. This process is usually essential to ensure that, even during wartime, U.S. forces can maintain sufficient readiness to face other threats worldwide.

Two sources familiar with the matter revealed that this fundraising effort within the Pentagon is led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Van Buren. Over the past year, he has focused on the U.S. defense industry and increasing the production of precision-guided munitions, which have been rapidly consumed in this war.

One insider said Van Buren’s office drafted a series of funding plans aimed at quickly addressing the Pentagon’s ammunition shortages and giving a boost to the often sluggish U.S. defense industry.

Even before the Iran war broke out, Trump had called for a defense budget as high as $1.5 trillion, a more than 50% increase from the previous year. It remains unclear how this supplemental appropriation will (or even if it will) be incorporated into that total. The White House Office of Management and Budget expressed opposition to such a large figure in internal discussions, deeming it excessive.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman and Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton has also been pressuring the government to include additional operational funds for intelligence agencies in the final funding package.

Experts say the upcoming congressional battle over the Pentagon’s funding request could serve as a major test of public support for this war. Critics are expected to try to block the funding to demonstrate their strong opposition to U.S. involvement in the conflict.

“We’ve made some estimates of the costs of this war based on limited data, but there’s huge uncertainty, and Congress is eager to see the actual bill,” said Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “If the government asks for a lot more money, it will inevitably trigger a large political fight, as all anti-war sentiment will be directed at this request.”

Experts also point out that another real challenge for any funding request is that the U.S. defense industry’s capacity to ramp up production has its limits. Building the most advanced, cutting-edge weapons takes time, constrained by the number of skilled workers, manufacturing facilities, and key raw materials. Elaine McCusker, a former acting comptroller at the Pentagon and now a defense budget analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, succinctly states:

“Spending more money doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get weapons faster, but if you’re not willing to spend at all, you definitely won’t get them any faster.”