Pentagon makes 'desperate bid' to plug massive budget hole from Trump’s war

Estimates of the total cost of U.S. President Donald Trump's war with Iran vary. According to analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the war's cost, as of June 23, was somewhere between $34 billion and $42 billion. But NBC News, on July 14, reported that internal U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) analysis found a cost as high as $80-100 billion — a major increase from earlier Pentagon estimates around $30 billion. And the Daily Beast's Will Neal reports that the war is putting a massive budgetary strain on the Pentagon.

"The Pentagon is frantically shuffling cash around in a desperate bid to plug the hole blasted in its budget by Donald Trump's war with Iran," Neal explains in the Beast. "Current and former department officials told the Washington Post just how dire the situation has become, describing how the Pentagon has been forced to limit training and maintenance that help maintain military readiness. Trump, 80, is begging Congress to fork over $67 billion to make up the shortfall caused by the conflict he launched in the Middle East almost five months ago, after failing to secure a lasting peace."

Neal notes that this Tuesday, July 21, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will make the case for greater Pentagon funding during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. And Russell Vought — head of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and a prominent figure in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 — is also, according to Neal, expected to ask lawmakers for more Pentagon funding.

"Vought has previously suggested Trump's war has cost taxpayers about $30 billion," Neal reports. "Several independent analysts say the true figure likely dwarfs that sum, noting it does not include the estimated cost of rebuilding American bases devastated by Tehran's strikes across the Middle East. Current and former officials told the Post that efforts to plug the gap have seen combat readiness training and exercises 'being limited or canceled,' along with spending set aside for facilities, maintenance and equipment 'also being drained.'"

The Daily Beast reporter continues, "The growing strain on taxpayers ultimately funding Trump's war with Iran comes hot on the heels of a new poll by Ipsos and the Post that found just 28 percent of voters say the conflict 'has been worth fighting.' The newspaper notes those figures are 'on par with the worst assessments of the war in Afghanistan'…. Secretary Hegseth has previously been dismissive over concerns about how expensive Trump's war has proven, insisting that depleted U.S. stockpiles are, in fact, 'great, and they're only getting stronger."