Iran war has cost $25 billion so far, Pentagon official says

Operation Epic Fury in Iran has cost American taxpayers roughly $25 billion so far, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer revealed on Wednesday.

Acting comptroller Jules Hurst III, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, said that the bulk of the figure has been devoted to ordnance.

“Approximately, at this day, we are spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury, most of that is in munitions,” Hurst told lawmakers, adding that some of the costs also included operations, maintenance and equipment replacement.

“We will formulate a supplemental [bill] through the White House that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict,” he noted.

Wednesday marked the first time that President Donald Trump’s administration has publicly disclosed the war’s financial toll.

Senior Pentagon officials appeared on Capitol Hill for what had been scheduled as a review of the Department of Defense’s $1.5 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2027, only for the proceedings to be subsumed by the war in Iran, which began with a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.

Thirteen American service members have been killed in the operation, with 400 others wounded, according to Pentagon data .

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a contentious exchange with Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., insisted that the war’s expenditure is justified to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“The question that I would ask this committee is, ‘What is it worth to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, considering the radical ambitions of that regime?’” Hegseth said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Chief Financial Officer Jules W. Hurst testify on Capitol Hill on April 29, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)

After eight weeks of fighting, diplomacy between Washington and Tehran has failed to yield a definitive peace deal. Trump, in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, warned that Iran “better get smart soon” as negotiations remain stalled.

“Iran can’t get their act together,” the president wrote. “They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!”

Trump’s message was accompanied by a manipulated image of him clutching a weapon while explosions took place on a mountainous landscape in the background.

Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.

五角大楼首席财务官周三透露，迄今为止，在伊朗开展的“史诗狂怒行动”已耗费美国纳税人约 250 亿美元。

代理审计长朱尔斯·赫斯特三世在众议院军事委员会作证时表示，这笔款项的大部分都用于军械。

赫斯特告诉议员们：“目前，我们在‘史诗狂怒行动’上大约花费了 250 亿美元，其中大部分用于购买弹药。”他还补充说，部分费用还包括行动、维护和设备更换。

他指出：“我们将通过白宫制定一份补充法案，一旦我们对冲突的成本进行了全面评估，该法案就会提交国会。”

周三是唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府首次公开披露这场战争造成的经济损失。

五角大楼高级官员出现在国会山，原计划审查国防部 2027 财年 1.5 万亿美元的预算提案，但审查工作却被伊朗战争所掩盖，这场战争始于 2 月 28 日美国和以色列的联合袭击。

根据五角大楼的数据，此次行动中有 13 名美国军人丧生，另有 400 人受伤。

国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯与加州民主党众议员萨卢德·卡瓦哈尔进行了一场激烈的辩论，他坚持认为，这场战争的开支是合理的，目的是阻止伊朗获得核武器。

“我想问委员会的问题是，‘考虑到伊朗政权的激进野心，确保伊朗永远无法获得核武器的价值究竟有多大？’”赫格塞斯说道。

2026年4月29日，国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯、参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军和首席财务官朱尔斯·W·赫斯特在国会山作证。（凯莉·库珀/路透社）

经过八周的冲突，华盛顿和德黑兰之间的外交努力未能达成最终的和平协议。特朗普周三在Truth Social网站上发帖警告伊朗，由于谈判陷入僵局，伊朗“最好尽快醒悟过来”。

总统写道：“伊朗根本无法团结一致。他们不知道如何签署无核协议。他们最好尽快醒悟过来！”

特朗普发布的这条信息配有一张经过处理的图片，图片中他手持武器，背景是山地爆炸。

Tanya Noury 是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的记者，她的报道主要集中在白宫和五角大楼。