US Iran war bill hits 25 billion dollars

Democratic ranking member of the committee Adam Smith asks how much the war in Iran has cost the US so far, and if lawmakers can receive a full cost estimate from the Pentagon soon.

Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst, also at the hearing, chimes in to say "about $25bn", with munitions forming most of that cost.

"I'm glad you answered that question because we've been asking for a hell of a long time and no one's given us the number," Smith says. He directs his next question at Hegseth, asking how the government plans to end the nuclear threat from Iran.

Hegseth accuses previous administrations of cutting "bad deals" - and mentions the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2016 under US President Barack Obama.

He gets some pushback from Smith, who says: "That's the past, what's the future?" and queries if there was an imminent nuclear threat that made war with Iran necessary.

Hegseth says that Iran "hadn't given up their nuclear ambitions" which is why the US took action alongside Israel.

-BBC