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mahatmakanejeeves

(69,487 posts)
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:23 PM Yesterday

Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war

Source: Washington Post

WP Exclusive
Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war

Some White House officials do not think the Defense Department's request has a realistic shot of being approved in Congress, one senior administration official said.

March 18, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. EDT


President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in September. (Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post)

By Noah Robertson, Jeff Stein and Riley Beggin

The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran, according to a senior administration official, in an enormous new ask that is almost certain to run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict.

That number would far surpass the costs of the administration’s massive airstrike campaign to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as U.S. and Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past three weeks, according to three other people familiar with the matter, who confirmed that the Defense Department is seeking packages of that size.

The funding request is likely to stage a major political battle in Congress, as public support for the effort remains tepid and Democrats have been sharply critical. Republicans have signaled support for the forthcoming supplemental request but haven’t committed to a legislative strategy, or found a clear path to surpass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/18/iran-cost-budget-pentagon/



Edited on Thursday morning to add two paragraphs of text. I copied them from Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2026/03/pentagon-seeks-over-200-billion-to-fund-iran-war/
34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Yesterday OP
Hell No JBTaurus83 Yesterday #1
The last report I saw said they spent 11 or 12 billion$. Norrrm Yesterday #2
Fuck's sake Prairie Gates 23 hrs ago #3
Absolutely not! SheltieLover 23 hrs ago #4
Fuck that shit UpInArms 23 hrs ago #5
Threats to press, no need to get Congessional approval for War, Buddyzbuddy 23 hrs ago #6
Why? The war's almost over. (Said trump) IcyPeas 23 hrs ago #7
Half would probably go to Israel JBTaurus83 23 hrs ago #8
"I think the war is very complete, pretty much" progree 19 hrs ago #18
Perfect! mahina 16 hrs ago #26
Tell Pete to start saving for it. If he reduces the bill for lobster and steak, he should be able to buy the planes he jls4561 23 hrs ago #9
Throw a bake sale guys IbogaProject 23 hrs ago #10
The Pentagon could also try JBTaurus83 23 hrs ago #11
I had that on a poster and hung it in my apartment back in the day. Deuxcents 23 hrs ago #12
repeal tax breaks for billionaires. that oughta turn up some serious money nt msongs 23 hrs ago #13
Try Gofundme durablend 23 hrs ago #14
Bake sales... n/f Hugin 19 hrs ago #21
That is one ugly office. Fla Dem 22 hrs ago #15
+100 nt cliffside 21 hrs ago #17
Take it from the DHS, with all the money that came in" The Big Beautiful Bill" being spent on... Enter stage left 22 hrs ago #16
Tell them to get it from Donald. It is his grandiose obsession, let him pay for it. Ford_Prefect 19 hrs ago #19
Fucking outrageous Scalded Nun 19 hrs ago #20
Why is the Washington Post using a photo from September? Hugin 19 hrs ago #22
but FUCK YOU if you need affordable healthcare insurance Skittles 18 hrs ago #23
We haven't paid for the last one yet. progressoid 17 hrs ago #24
pentagog should go fuck off nt orleans 17 hrs ago #25
In 1969 a young second Lieutenant who had volunteered to serve in the special forces in the tri-border region of Viet- mahina 15 hrs ago #27
Nice picture of the Old Crank 15 hrs ago #28
MAGA Moron PhilG 6 hrs ago #29
Sell Mar-a-lago. dump ICE. Fire the clowns and seize Musk's assets. Problem resolved. Wonder Why 6 hrs ago #30
I thought the war was already over and Iran was going to pay for it. n/t whopis01 6 hrs ago #31
And Trump probably wants it all sent to the private slush fund he has set up in Qatar ToxMarz 3 hrs ago #32
Look at all that fake "gold" crap all over the walls..... AZ8theist 41 min ago #33
DOGE feels so, so far away Skittles 37 min ago #34

Norrrm

(4,891 posts)
2. The last report I saw said they spent 11 or 12 billion$.
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:26 PM
Yesterday

Trump seems to be greedy in his graft.

UpInArms

(54,889 posts)
5. Fuck that shit
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:41 PM
23 hrs ago

They starve and murder children, put people in concentration camps and destroy the constitution

No more money

Buddyzbuddy

(2,518 posts)
6. Threats to press, no need to get Congessional approval for War,
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:41 PM
23 hrs ago

numerous war crimes committed during Diva Whiskey Pete's tenure.

Nah, you should fund the war the same way you're running it, PRIVATELY and badly.

JBTaurus83

(1,290 posts)
8. Half would probably go to Israel
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:46 PM
23 hrs ago

For re-stocking their military and propping up their economy which is not doing well.

Editing to add, probably bail outs to our UAE and Saudi “friends” as well.

jls4561

(3,074 posts)
9. Tell Pete to start saving for it. If he reduces the bill for lobster and steak, he should be able to buy the planes he
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:52 PM
23 hrs ago

lost some time in the next millennium.
I hear all you need is one piece of chicken, a floret of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing.

IbogaProject

(5,848 posts)
10. Throw a bake sale guys
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:53 PM
23 hrs ago

"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber"
Creator(s): Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, sponsor/advertiser

JBTaurus83

(1,290 posts)
11. The Pentagon could also try
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 07:55 PM
23 hrs ago

Accounting for the over 2 trillion dollars that is “unaccounted for”. Imagine running a business with those rounding errors. These are the people who say everything should be run like a business.

Fla Dem

(27,598 posts)
15. That is one ugly office.
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 08:42 PM
22 hrs ago

First time I saw such an expansive view and I wish I hadn't seen it.

Enter stage left

(4,534 posts)
16. Take it from the DHS, with all the money that came in" The Big Beautiful Bill" being spent on...
Wed Mar 18, 2026, 09:10 PM
22 hrs ago

Border Patrol, the asinine border wall, and funding the domestic terrorists referred to as ICE!

If I remember correctly, in TSF's first term, he pulled money from the military budget to start his "Big Beautiful Wall".

Or, hold a bake sale like those who need medical care.

Ford_Prefect

(8,588 posts)
19. Tell them to get it from Donald. It is his grandiose obsession, let him pay for it.
Thu Mar 19, 2026, 12:04 AM
19 hrs ago

He certainly has stolen enough tax money to do so.

mahina

(20,614 posts)
27. In 1969 a young second Lieutenant who had volunteered to serve in the special forces in the tri-border region of Viet-
Thu Mar 19, 2026, 03:30 AM
15 hrs ago

nam arrived in the Central Highlands village where he was to spend the next year embedded with a Jarais tribe of Montagnards.

In the orientation materials and reports allegedly written by his predesessors, provided to him by the US Army, he anticipated arriving at a village that had the following:
A well built school equipt with desks, chalkboards, made of concrete, fully staffed with an administration including a principal, teachers, and maintenance workers. These posts were all on payroll every month.

A complete clinic with medics (Bouxi,) an administration and maintenance workers also all on payroll every month,

Wells made of cement, without regard to the fact that Montagnards will only drink running water such as that in a stream. Thete are animist people. They will never drink standing water as would be found in the wellbut that functionally did not exist anyway, as it was made with such inferior cement, overmixed with sand to steal every possible penny, that it was crumbling.

When he reported to his superiors in Da Nang in the cool comfort of their air conditioned offices what he had found on the ground, he expected that they too would be alarmed at the corruption. guess what? They not want to hear about it. Worse, if he said anything else about it to anybody he would be punished- and I mean very severely. To show him that they meant business, they no longer allowed him any money at all. He could only survive on what he could catch and kill himself or trade for, 100% independently of any support from the US Army.

Can you just imagine that for a moment? Just a few months ago you were the head of the marketing department at a bank in your hometown. You volunteered your ass in there, thinking you were doing the right thing you got there and you found out that you were in the middle of a giant corruption racket. And now the army wasn’t even hoing to give you money to be fed, much less provide any meaningful material support to the villagers.

How’s that for some bullshit?

Had did it not been for a network of people he knew if from where he grew up, he doesn’t think he would’ve lived.

That the immense gift of his sacrifice and service was so grossly abused for nothing was only part of what broke his heart there.

You know it has not gotten any better.

It’s a disgrace on a scale I cannot even comprehend, and here we are all over again, blowing people up with our tax money. It makes me want to vomit all day.
I am still angry for what happened to my beautiful father. I only found out after he passed from his written documentation to the VA. He had quit the army days before he would’ve been eligible for his pension. He had just absolutely had it.

Assholes from the CIA kept showing up at our front door, trying to recruit him, and he told them to fuck off. He was a very tall, very imposing and very intelligent man who had a huge heart and who loved his country.

I think it’s time for us to change, people. For real for real.

PhilG

(55 posts)
29. MAGA Moron
Thu Mar 19, 2026, 12:40 PM
6 hrs ago

Last year at a protest I was confronted by a MAGA Moron (he was obviously a senior citizen too) screaming at me about the National debt. I asked him if he was a vet and asked him if he was OK with cuts to the VA. He ignored me and kept yelling. Asked him about cuts to Social Security too but he kept yelling about the debt.

Wish I could find him now and ask him about the debt...

Wonder Why

(6,899 posts)
30. Sell Mar-a-lago. dump ICE. Fire the clowns and seize Musk's assets. Problem resolved.
Thu Mar 19, 2026, 01:00 PM
6 hrs ago

As to taking Musk assets, they don't know what the Constitution is anyway.

AZ8theist

(7,309 posts)
33. Look at all that fake "gold" crap all over the walls.....
Thu Mar 19, 2026, 06:47 PM
41 min ago

It it unbelievably cheap and low class. A perfect reflection of the imbecile occupying that room.

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