The US Department of Defense has informally requested $80 billion in supplemental funding to cover the costs of the military campaign against Iran, according to officials familiar with the discussions. The figure, conveyed to senators by Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, is more than double the $29 billion estimate that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided to Congress just weeks earlier. The White House Office of Management and Budget has not yet submitted a formal request, but Hegseth and Feinberg have been meeting with lawmakers to build support.

Viewed from Capitol Hill, the request lands at a politically sensitive moment. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, acknowledged the need to replenish depleted munitions stockpiles but said the chamber would “work through it and see where the votes are.” Democratic Senator Patty Murray directly challenged Hegseth, telling him, “You’re spending families’ hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose.” Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Democratic leadership, said he had not found any colleague willing to support an Iran-focused funding bill. Republican Senator Jim Banks framed the request as an investment in the defence industrial base, particularly for states like Indiana. President Trump, in an interview with PBS News, defended the cost as minimal compared to the objective of permanently denying Iran a nuclear weapon.

The $80 billion request is part of a much larger defence spending surge. The White House is seeking a total of $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon for the current fiscal year, a nearly 50 per cent increase. Republicans plan to secure about $1.1 trillion through regular appropriations and an additional $350 billion via a party-line vote later in the summer. The war funding itself would cover munitions replacement, equipment repair, operational costs, and the repair or reconstruction of damaged US military sites in the region. Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington have warned that inventories of key systems such as Patriot and THAAD interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles could take three or more years to restore to pre-war levels under current production rates. Trump has already invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate manufacturing.

The Pentagon’s cost estimates have fluctuated sharply. An initial internal projection at the start of the war put the price at $200 billion, while the first week alone was estimated at $11.3 billion. The new $80 billion figure emerged after Hegseth’s earlier testimony, which did not include the expense of repairing damaged bases. The formal supplemental request is expected to be sent to Congress once the Office of Management and Budget completes its review. No vote has been scheduled, and the proposal’s fate remains uncertain given bipartisan concerns over the ceasefire agreement with Iran and the broader fiscal impact. Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, insisted that any Iran funding must be considered only after lawmakers from both parties agree on an overall budget framework.