Hegseth faces Senate heat as Iran war cost soars to $37.5 bn

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced protests and tough questions in the Senate this week over the US war with Iran, as he told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the war has cost USD 37.5 billion so far, a rise from earlier estimates.

The hearing came as Republicans prepared to push the package before lawmakers leave to campaign for the midterm elections. Hegseth’s testimony also came days after the Pentagon said three more American service members had died in the conflict, taking the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 had been injured since early July. Several protesters interrupted his opening remarks.

Hegseth said the supplemental war funding was an ‘urgent, necessary’ injection of money and described President Donald Trump’s proposed USD 1.5 trillion defense budget as a generational investment in the military. ‘Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,’ he told the panel.

Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the committee, warned of ‘another forever war’. ‘This war is now spiralling out of control again,’ she said, adding, ‘Trump has told us over 40 times now that a deal is near, and the war will be over soon. But now, he’s asking for USD 70 billion more - and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine.’

The Senate is due to consider another war powers resolution this week after nearly a dozen earlier votes aimed at stopping the conflict. The House has already passed a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s ability to wage war, with a few Republicans joining Democrats, but no measure has cleared both chambers.