By Ireland Owens
The estimated cost of the war in Iran has now hit nearly $30 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Department of War Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Jules W. Hurst III said during a congressional testimony on Tuesday that the Iran war has cost about $29 billion in total thus far, citing an “updated repair and replacement of equipment cost and also just general operational cost” as the main reasons for the increase. The announcement comes after the Pentagon estimated on April 29 that the total cost of the war was roughly $25 billion, Reuters reported. (RELATED: Iran War Throws Wrench In GOP Plans To Address Cost Of Living Concerns)
Hurst also said during the hearing that “at the time of testimony… it [the estimated cost of the Iran war] was $25 billion dollars,” in reference to War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s cost estimate from April.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 12: U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller Jules Hurst, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine prepare to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the FY2027 budget request in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
However, the total cost of the Iran war may actually be closer to $50 billion, CBS News reported on April 30, citing anonymous U.S. officials familiar with internal assessments.
The Pentagon requested $200 billion from Congress to fund the war in March.
The ongoing Iran war has also been driving up major inflationary pressures across the nation. Consumer prices in the U.S. jumped at an annual rate of 3.8% in April, marking the highest level since May 2023, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday.
The national average gas price in the U.S. was over $4.50 per gallon as of Tuesday, the American Automobile Association reported. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a Tuesday X post that if Americans “want to bring gas prices down below $3 a gallon we must demand that Trump ends this disastrous, unconstitutional and unprovoked war NOW.”
A CNN/SSRS poll released on Tuesday shows that 77% – including a majority of Republicans voters – of Americans think President Donald Trump’s policies have driven up the cost of living in their own community during his second term. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of respondents said that Trump’s policies have made the nation’s economy worse, the survey shows.
Just 26% of Americans said they approve of the president’s handling of inflation, while 21% said they approve of his performance on gas prices, according to the CNN poll.
