The amount is equivalent to the entire budget allocated to the US space agency, NASA.
A senior official at the Department of Defense, Jules Hurst, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that a large portion of the money had been spent on weapons.
However, he did not provide detailed information on all the expenditures or clarify whether the figure included the cost of damage sustained by US military bases in the Middle East that were targeted by Iranian forces.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the amount was justified because the United States was trying to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons that could cause massive destruction.
Hegseth said, “How much would you pay to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? How much would you pay?”
Congressman Adam Smith noted that lawmakers had long been demanding information about the cost of the war and welcomed the Defense Department’s decision to release at least part of the figures.
He said, “I’m glad you answered that question because we had been asking it for a long time, and no one had provided us with the numbers.”
Analysts following the conflict believe the actual amount spent by the United States could exceed $25 billion, since one American official revealed that after only six days of fighting, more than $11.3 billion had already been used.
