Hegseth Clocks Iran War Cost At $37.5 Billion, But Analysts Think The Number Is Way Higher

July 26, 2026 3:36 PM ET The Iran War may have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion, according to expert estimates provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.When including damage to U.S. bases and equipment in the region, the Iran War could cost more than $100 billion, according to one expert estimate. However, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that the war has only cost approximately $37.5 billion since it started on Feb. 28 during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday.“I think Pete Hegseth has lied to Congress about the cost of the Iran War,” the cofounder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, Stephen Semler, told the DCNF. “It’s already the most disliked war in history, according to my own analysis of polling data dating back to World War II. So I think, and