The Pentagon is reportedly seeking over $200 billion from the US Congress to fund President Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran. If approved, the war funds will boost the US military campaign that began on February 28 and ramp up the production of weapons used during the conflict, according to a report by The Washington Post.
It remains unclear how much money the White House will ultimately ask the lawmakers to approve. But the newspaper explained that the funding request is likely to stage a major political battle in Congress “as public support for the effort remains tepid and Democrats have been sharply critical.”
It’s been nearly three weeks since the US, along with Israel, began airstrikes against Iran to dismantle what the US military calls the “Iranian regime’s security apparatus.” So far, American forces have struck more than 7,800 targets and made over 8,000 combat flights and damaged or destroyed more than 120 Iranian vessels, according to U.S. Central Command.
In the first week alone, the US had spent over $11 billion on its military campaign. Now, combined with an additional $200 billion, the American expenditure on war could exceed more than half of Iran’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which stood at $356.51 billion in 2025, according to World Meters.
Congress has already approved $838.5 billion in defense funding for the 2026 fiscal year, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Trump administration started preparing an additional funding request to help cover the war costs shortly after the joint US-Israeli campaign began late last month. The process is often required to ensure the military can maintain its readiness to defend against threats around the world, even during wartime.
Inside the Pentagon, the efforts were reportedly led by Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg, who has focused for the past year on increasing production of precision munitions and bettering the American defence industry.
Feinberg’s office has put together a number of packages in a bid to quickly address the Pentagon’s munitions shortage and jolt the country’s at times sluggish defence industry, The Washington Post report added.
Even before the Iran war, Trump had called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget, a more than 50 per cent increase from the previous year. (The Washington Post; Photo © X)
