WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a request exceeding 200 billion U.S. dollars for Congress to fund the ongoing U.S. strikes on Iran, a move likely to stage a major partisan battle on Capitol Hill, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing a senior U.S. official and three other people familiar with the matter.
The figure would far surpass the cost of the U.S. military campaign against Iran to date and is intended to urgently expand production of critical weapons depleted since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran started on Feb. 28, the report said.
It remains unclear how much the White House will ultimately ask Congress to approve, as some administration officials believe the Department of Defense request has little chance of passing, according to the report, which cited a senior Trump administration official speaking on condition of anonymity.
The cost of the U.S. strikes on Iran has rapidly grown, exceeding 11 billion dollars in the first week alone, the report said, citing multiple officials.
Before launching the massive attacks on Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump had proposed a 1.5 trillion-dollar defense budget for 2027, a more than 50 percent increase from the previous year.
It remains unclear how and whether the supplemental may count toward that total, said the report. It also noted that the White House Office of Management and Budget objected to that total in internal discussions, suggesting it was too large. ■