Pentagon ‘seeks 200 billion dollars in additional funds for Iran war’

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion (€174 billion) in additional funds for the Iran war, a senior administration official says.

The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.

It is an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defence Department already received last year in President Donald Trump’s big tax cuts bill.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Congress is bracing for a new spending request, but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration.

It is unclear if the spending request would have support.

The new funding request was first reported by The Washington Post.

Asked about the figure at a press conference on Thursday, defence secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the figure, saying it could change.

But he said: “We’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded.”

“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Mr Hegseth added.