Read our editorials on the US-Israeli war on Iran here and here.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth requested an $87 billion emergency supplemental package of congressional funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21, $67 billion of which would be allocated toward operations in the Middle East.
Hegseth claimed the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran has cost US taxpayers $37.5 billion thus far; however, estimates by bourgeois economists place the cost far higher.
Public finance lecturer Linda Bilmes calculates that the up-front cost of the war is $120 billion, not including the $250 billion for repairing US imperialist outposts struck by Iran.
Workers in the US are fronting the imperialists’ bill for the war of aggression through taxation and inflation, with energy prices increasing 15.7% from June 2025 to June 2026, and all items seeing a 3.5% increase, according to the Consumer Price Index. According to economist Mark Zandi, the war has cost the average US household more than $1,200.
The House passed two major budget measures along Republican party lines on July 22. Now, the measures must be approved by the Senate.
The first is the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which continues the trend of record-high military funding, this time reaching $1.15 trillion. The Act increases US-Israel cooperation, particularly for military technology to counter unmanned systems such as drones. The Army’s missile budget increased to $12 billion, up from $9 billion in Fiscal Year 2026.
The Democrat mafia opposed the military budget to express disapproval for the US’s unpopular war against Iran, a war in which Iran and its allies in the region have dealt a significant blow to US imperialism. “It’s this war that has totally, totally, totally diminished American power and ability to defend ourselves in the world,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on July 15.
The second budget measure is a $95 billion budget reconciliation package for the Department of War, $60 billion of which is for the war on Iran. Republican mafia representatives stressed the urgency of the funding because the US is running low on critical munitions. However, the delivery time for key US munition ranges from 42 to 64 weeks.
A July 27 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies claims that US stockpiles of Patriot interceptor missiles and THAAD defense systems—crucial to intercepting Iranian missiles—have fallen significantly below pre-war levels, with roughly a third of the number of Patriot interceptors and half the amount of THAAD interceptors remaining.
US imperialism cannot wage uninterrupted war against Iran. After threatening a massive attack against Iran in late July, Trump wavered, claiming there would be too many civilian casualties despite the US having carried out airstrikes on civilians throughout the month.
According to a recent New York Times article, Trump’s “real hesitation may come from the fact that the war has depleted US stockpiles of missile interceptors.” In contrast to waning US stockpiles, Iran’s drone and missile production capacity has possibly increased, according to US intelligence reports.
Image: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (left) appears before the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21, 2026. Credit: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Carson Croom, DOW.
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