Middle East crisis live: US war on Iran has cost around $29bn, Pentagon says

US war on Iran has cost about $29bn, Pentagon says

The Pentagon revealed on 29 April that the US war on Iran had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending. Asked if there are any updated costs associated with the war as of today, Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, said:

“At the time of testimony… it was $25 billion dollars. But the joint staff team and the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29.”

“And that is because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs to keep people in theatre,” he added.

The US defense secretary Pete Hegseth then said “we will share what we can” when it is “relevant and required” after being pressed on when more “formal accounting” on the costs of the war will be shared with Congress and the House appropriations committee’s defense subcommittee.

The Pentagon revealed on 29 April that the US war on Iran had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending. Asked if there are any updated costs associated with the war as of today, Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, said:

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“At the time of testimony… it was $25 billion dollars. But the joint staff team and the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29.”

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“And that is because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs to keep people in theatre,” he added.

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The US defense secretary Pete Hegseth then said “we will share what we can” when it is “relevant and required” after being pressed on when more “formal accounting” on the costs of the war will be shared with Congress and the House appropriations committee’s defense subcommittee.

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Hegseth was asked by the House appropriations committee on defence if there was a “plan B” should Congress not authorise continuing military operations against Iran. Were there, for example, plans in place to draw down troops or to protect assets in the region, the subcommittee asked.

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Hegseth said:

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n

I would say we have a plan for all of that. We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to, retrograde, if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets.

n

But certainly in this setting, we wouldn’t reveal what the next step may be, considering the gravity of the mission that the president is undertaking to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb.

n

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Hegseth once again invoked religious language in his speech, saying the US was on a “sacred mission”, although he did not explicitly mention the war against Iran.

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“May almighty God continue to watch over all of our troops, and may we honour the legacy of those brave Americans that we’ve lost,” he said.

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“That is our sacred mission that we will continue to execute on.”

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Hegseth speaking before the House appropriations subcommittee on defence.”,”caption”:”Pete Hegseth speaking before the House appropriations subcommittee on defence.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1778588948000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”08.29 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1778589773000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”08.42 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1778589359000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”08.35 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”08.35″,”title”:”Hegseth: US on ‘sacred mission'”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 12 May 2026 14.41 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Tue 12 May 2026 02.47 EDT”},{“id”:”6a031b468f08f8bc3844a1b2″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Pete Hegseth begins his speech to the House appropriations defence subcommittee by justifying Trump’s defence budget request of $1.5tn.

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“President Trump inherited a defence industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America last policies,” the US secretary of defence said.

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“We are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defence industrial base back on a wartime footing.”

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He added: “The $1.5tn budget will ensure the United States continues to maintain the world’s most powerful and capable military.”

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The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, and Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, are due to testify before the House appropriations subcommittee on defence shortly.

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We will bring you the latest as they will be asked about expenditure in relation to the war on Iran and military operations/capability. You can watch live here:

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Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has been speaking at a news conference with Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan. Here are some of the key lines so far:

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n
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  He said the strait of Hormuz has been “used as a weapon in this war” and urged Iran not to use the waterway as a “weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries”.

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  He condemned continuing deadly Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza despite supposed ceasefires in both cases.

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  He expressed his wish to resolve issues with Iran through diplomacy.

n

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Iran has expanded its definition of the strait of Hormuz into a “vast operational area” far wider than before the war, according to a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy in comments likely to anger the US.

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The strait is no longer viewed as a narrow stretch around a handful of islands but instead has been greatly enlarged in scope and military significance, according to Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, the state-affiliated Fars news agency reported this morning.

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“In the past, the strait of Hormuz was defined as a limited area around islands such as Hormuz and Hengam, but today this view has changed,” Akbarzadeh said.

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Iran effectively seized control of the critical waterway after the US and Israel attacked it on 28 February. Weeks of heavy bombing and a US naval blockade imposed last month have yet to loosen its grip. It is untrue to say the strait has been closed because Iran has allowed some vessels from friendly countries – such as China, India and Pakistan – to transit the waterway throughout the war.

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Iran says it will only reopen the strait under certain conditions including an end to the US-Israel war against it and the lifting of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. Tehran says it has collected tolls from commercial vessels in order to navigate freely through the strait, something the US vehemently rejects.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the UAE carried out military ‌strikes on Iran without publicly acknowledging the attacks.

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The strikes included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan island in early April, around the time the US announced a ceasefire, according to the WSJ. The US was not angered by the attack, however, as it welcomes the involvement of Gulf states wanting to join American military action against Iran, a source told the newspaper.

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Iran described the incident as an “enemy attack” and responded with missile and drone strikes against the UAE and Kuwait.

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Although it has strong cultural and economic links to Iran, the UAE, which hosts a major American air base, has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks throughout the war, shaking the country’s economy, disrupting air traffic and hurting all important tourism streams.

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​Donald Trump said one of his central objectives in launching ‌a war against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a ​nuclear weapon.

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​Iran – which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful – is reportedly yet to hand over more than 400 kg ⁠of uranium enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

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Now it looks as if the US could restart its war, Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity if attacked again.

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“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted on X.

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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war with Iran will continue as long as the country has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

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“It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” he told the CBS programme 60 Minutes. Asked how it should be removed, Netanyahu said: “You go in and you take it out.”

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“I think it accomplished a great deal, but it’s not over,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells 60 Minutes about the war in Iran. Netanyahu says highly enriched uranium must be removed from Iran and believes “it can be done physically.” pic.twitter.com/N5XbvzpYa0

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 10, 2026

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The Israeli military has ordered residents of towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately “by a distance of at least 1000 meters to open areas” in advance of attacks against the locations.

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The affected towns and villages are: Arzun, Tayr Debba, al-Bazouriyeh and al-Hawsh, according to a social media post by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who claimed the attacks are being launched due to Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.

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International law experts say Israel’s warnings are inconsistent and often overly broad and open-ended. Sometimes there is no warning at all before the airstrikes. More than one million people have already been displaced by the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon which started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran in late February.

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In its latest update, the Lebanese health ministry said since 2 March Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,869 people, including many women and children.

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We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran after Donald Trump said the ceasefire was “on life support” after rejecting Tehran’s peace proposal, calling it “totally unacceptable”.

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Referring to the ceasefire in force since 7 April, Trump said: “I would call it the weakest, right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it.

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“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says: ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’”

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Shortly after Trump’s comments, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, who has been chief negotiator in talks, wrote on X that his country’s armed forces were “ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression”.

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man walks past a large banner depicting Iran’s current supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and his predecessor and late father Ali Khamenei along a street in Tehran.”,”caption”:”A man walks past a large banner depicting Iran’s current supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and his predecessor and late father Ali Khamenei along a street in Tehran.”,”credit”:”Photograph: AFP/Getty Images”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Trump is reportedly considering a resumption in major military attacks as he is frustrated with the stalled negotiations and the continued closure of the strait of Hormuz (to countries “hostile” to Iran), which has caused global energy prices to surge, including in the US where gas and fertiliser costs have soared.

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Sources have told CNN that the US president is growing increasingly impatient with the division within the Iranian leadership making it hard for Washington to force Tehran into concessions on nuclear talks. Trump is unlikely to make the decision before he leaves to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for his diplomatic visit to China later this week, the sources said.

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Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Donald Trump said that he plans to talk to Chinese president Xi Jinping about the US’s ongoing war in Iran but downplayed its importance, saying:

“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you.”

He went to add:

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.”

The high-stakes trip comes amid calls from secretary of state Marco Rubio and treasury secretary Scott Bessent towards Beijing to intervene and help reopen the Hormuz strait. In addition to 20% of the world’s crude oil flowing through the strait prior to the war, half of China’s crude oil passes through the critical chokehold.

Administration officials accompanying Donald Trump on Air Force 1 en route to China reportedly include:

• Secretary of state Marco Rubio

• Defense secretary Pete Hegseth

• US trade representative Jamieson Greer

• White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller

• White House deputy chief of staff James Blair

Others included in Trump’s entourage include his son Eric and Eric’s wife Lara, science advisor Michael Kratsios, as well as chief of protocol Monica Crowley.

At Pete Hegseth’s hearing before the US Senate appropriations defence subcommittee earlier, Republican Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, rejected the White House’s claim that the war was over.

“We still have 15,000 troops that are forward deployed, more than 20 warships and an active naval blockade,” she said. “In other words, it doesn’t appear that hostilities have ended.”

She asked Hegseth if the Trump administration planned to seek authorization from Congress to continue its war against Iran.

“Our view is that, should the president make the decision to recommence, that we would have all the authorities necessary to do so,” Hegseth said.

He added that the administration believes Donald Trump “has all the authorities he needs under Article II”.

A reminder that under Article II of the US constitution, presidents are permitted to launch attacks only in self-defence, in response to an immediate threat. Otherwise, Congress alone has the sole power to declare war. Trump has always claimed without evidence that Iran was planning to strike first and the US was therefore acting in “self-defence”.

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun has extended his condolences to the families of two paramedics killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.

“President General Aoun extended his deepest condolences to the families of the two martyrs and to the Civil Defense Department, praising the sacrifices made by its personnel in order to protect citizens and save lives under the most difficult circumstances,” Aoun’s office said in a statement.

It added that the attack was carried out “despite the announcement of a ceasefire” and that targeting humanitarian workers “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and all humanitarian principles”.

Democratic senator Chris Murphy told Hegseth he feels the defence secretary is being “way to optimistic” about Iran potentially succumbing to economic pressure to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

Murphy warned spiralling gas prices from the ongoing closure of the strategic waterway were bankrupting farmers and families in the US.

He said to Hegseth:

I believe you are being way too optimistic in your assessment of their [Iran’s] potential to cave.

If this goes on for another 30 days, there are going to be thousands of more farms that will go bankrupt. There are going to be families that are going to be ruined. And so time is not on our side.

I just don’t believe that Iran is ready to capitulate yet.

Hegseth claimed the US controls the strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that the waterway has been effectively shut to shipping in more than two months of war.

Speaking at the Senate appropriations defence subcommittee hearing, Hegseth said:

“Ultimately we control the strait, because nothing’s going in that we don’t allow to go in. And, trust me, when we look at what Iran’s thinking about that, they know they can’t break it. And it’s very concerning for them.”

Back in Congress, defence secretary Pete Hegseth faced pushback from Republicans on the Trump administration’s straining of relations with longtime allies, particularly Nato.

Kentucky sentator Mitch McConnell, the Republican chair of the Senate appropriations defence subcommittee, told Hegseth that “Nato is the most important military alliance in world history”.

“It seems to me that a lot of the European countries think that we’re reducing our influence there, they’re sort of on their own,” McConnell said at a hearing today.

“And somehow American leadership is not essential to Nato going forward. I would argue that it certainly is essential for us to continue to be the leader.”

In an earlier House appropriations committee hearing, Oklahoma representative Tom Cole said: “America First has never meant American alone.”

The Republican chair of the House appropriations committee added: “American power is most effective when it’s exercised in concert with like-minded nations who share our interests and our values.”

The Pakistani foreign ministry has issued a statement detailing a phone call between Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

The statement came as Donald Trump is due to travel to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping, with the Iran war expected to be high on the agenda.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said:

The two leaders exchanged in-depth views on recent regional developments and Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to facilitate engagement between Iran and the United States, aimed at promoting sustained peace and stability in the region and beyond.

Foreign minister Wang Yi reiterated appreciation and support for Pakistan’s constructive mediation role.

Both sides underscored the importance of continuing a durable ceasefire and ensuring normal passage through the strait of Hormuz.

They also discussed planned high-level exchanges, activities marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China, as well as broader bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

The two sides agreed to maintain close communication on all matters of mutual interest.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s health minister, Rakan Nassereddine, has shared a video on social media showing Israeli attacks against hospitals, emergency crews and health facilities in the country.

“The systematic targeting of healthcare workers and facilities is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” he wrote in an accompanying message. “We place this evidence before the world: Silence is complicity. Protect Lebanon’s healers.’

The growing allegations that the Israeli military is targeting medical workers and healthcare infrastructure are explored in depth in this report by the William Christou, which documents repeated strikes on ambulances and first responders in southern Lebanon in “quadruple tap” attacks. You can read William’s report from Beirut here:

As Hegseth started his opening statement, an anti-war protester stood up and pronounced “I am an Iranian American and against this war of aggression”.

The woman was removed by officers but continued to tell the Seante hearing room she opposed the war against Iran.

There were a handful more anti-war protesters wearing pink shirts with the message “no war on Iran” in the hearing but they remained silent. Several of them stood and walked out while Hegseth was talking, AP reported.

Democratic senator Chris Coons has told Pete Hegseth he feels the defence secretary has become “distracted” by culture wars and questioned his decision to remove senior military leaders in the middle of a war.

“Mr Secretary, it seems at times you’re more passionate about fighting culture wars than winning the real war,” he said at the Senate appropriations defence subcommittee, giving the examples of banning books and erasing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) content from websites.

“I’m stunned that you’ve fired the 44-year chief of staff of the army in the middle of a hot war, and dismissed the secretary of the navy in the middle of a naval blockade,” Coons added, referring to Randy George and John Phelan, who both stepped down last month.

“As dozens of senior flag rank officers have been dismissed, I am worried about what that does to focus and morale,” Coons said.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is due to appear before the Senate appropriations subcommittee on defence. You can watch live here while we bring you the updates:

In Lebanon, where the Israeli military and Hezbollah have continued fighting despite a ceasefire, two Lebanese civil defence members were killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Nabatieh, the state-run National News Agency has reported.

They were killed while carrying out a rescue mission after an earlier attack, according to the report. A third rescue worker was also injured during the mission, the civil defence said.

The Israeli military has not commented on the report.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has finished speaking at the House appropriations committee on defence. Here is a quick recap of the main lines:

• Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, said the cost of the Iran war has risen to “closer” to $29bn because of the “repair and replacement of equipment” and “general operational costs”. Previously, the Pentagon said the war had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending when Hegseth testified two weeks ago.

• Hegseth hinted that the US could re-escalate the war when asked whether the defence department had any plans to withdraw US troops from the Middle East and protect military assets in the region.

• “I would say we have a plan for all of that. We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to, retrograde, if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets,” the defence secretary said, declining to give specific details on the next steps in Iran.

• Hegseth said “it’s evident” the ceasefire with Iran remains in effect. “Ceasefire means the fire is ceasing and we know that has occurred while negotiations occur,” he told the hearing.

Hegseth said “it’s evident” the ceasefire with Iran remains in effect, telling the subcommittee it “means the fire is ceasing and we know that has occurred while negotiations occur”.

This is despite the US military saying it intercepted Iranian attacks on three American destroyers in the strait of Hormuz last week.

We are continuing to listen to the subcommittee while keeping an eye out for other news. In a brief update on X, the US Central Command (Centcom) said the US military has turned back 65 commercial vessels and disabled four since it started its blockade of Iranian ports on 13 April. The aim of the blockade is to force Iran to accept Washington’s terms for ending the war, but so far Iran has resisted this pressure.

Iran retains the ability to threaten and inflict damage on tankers passing through the strait of Hormuz and effectively halt all other shipping, as my colleague Dan Sabbagh notes in this insightful analysis piece.

US war on Iran has cost about $29bn, Pentagon says

The Pentagon revealed on 29 April that the US war on Iran had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending. Asked if there are any updated costs associated with the war as of today, Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, said:

“At the time of testimony… it was $25 billion dollars. But the joint staff team and the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29.”

“And that is because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs to keep people in theatre,” he added.

The US defense secretary Pete Hegseth then said “we will share what we can” when it is “relevant and required” after being pressed on when more “formal accounting” on the costs of the war will be shared with Congress and the House appropriations committee’s defense subcommittee.