© Getty Images Rising war spending will put pressure on Trump.
The US President Donald Trump’s government has exhausted stores of essential ordnance, which were expected to last for many years, since the commencement of hostilities with Iran . This has sparked worries regarding the “expense” of the mission and the capacity of the United States to restock provisions, the FT reveals , citing inside sources.
The swiftly dwindling weapon reserves encompass advanced, extended-range Tomahawk missiles.
“This signifies a substantial outlay for Tomahawk missiles. The Navy will feel the consequences for several years,” one source expressed.
The Pentagon is anticipated to present a formal plea for $50 billion in extra military funds to the White House and Congress in the coming days. The request will establish the groundwork for a heated debate in Congress over finances, potentially intensifying lawmakers’ anxieties about the administration’s undertakings.
The increasing costs will exert strain on Trump, considering the conflict has disrupted a crucial maritime commerce route and driven up oil prices. In a midterm electoral period, the conflict with Iran is also progressively unpopular among American voters, who are struggling with soaring fuel costs and questioning if the president has plunged the nation into another drawn-out engagement in the Middle East.
Republican Senator Lisa Merkavsky, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, cautioned that legislators would resent any White House assumptions of supplementary expenditure. The Pentagon needs to “engage” more comprehensively with Congress, she declared on Thursday, March 12.
“You must be prepared to furnish us with information as required, accompanied by justification. We shouldn’t take it for granted that Congress’ sole purpose is merely to issue a check,” Merkavsky elaborated.
Any added legislative measure to finance the war against Iran could encounter opposition in both the House and Senate. Republicans maintain a narrow advantage in the House, and certain conservatives are inclined to resist any considerable additional spending of taxpayer funds. Democratic legislators, who have denounced the Iran operation as illegitimate due to Trump’s failure to seek congressional endorsement, are also prone to oppose extra funds for the Pentagon.
Former Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday exhorted his peers “who oppose the president’s use of force against Iran” to nonetheless sanction the military’s supplemental funding application, terming it “a much-anticipated opportunity to invest in pressing and strategic defense priorities.”
“Weakness encourages challenge. However, our rivals have sought to diminish and undermine America, regardless of who occupies the position of commander in chief,” asserted McConnell, a recurring critic of Trump.
Earlier in the week, Pentagon officials communicated to senators that the war with Iran had incurred costs exceeding $11 billion during the initial six days of strikes, with the bulk of the expenditure attributed to munitions.
“The ordnance we employ — Patriot ordnance, Thaad ordnance… these are weaponry systems where each unit costs millions of dollars,” stated Democratic Senator and U.S. Air Force veteran Mark Kelly.
Meanwhile, the Iranians “are using inexpensive drones,” he added, alluding to Shahed.
“The numbers don’t align here,” Kelly remarked.
The Pentagon is expected to brief Congress on the expended ammunition in the coming days.
In recent years, U.S. officials have voiced escalating apprehension that the usage of vital ordnance could surpass their production, particularly if the United States were to engage in conflicts with adversaries such as Russia or China. This could precipitate a perilous diminution of U.S. reserves and diminish the preparedness of American forces for prospective future wars.
Merkavsky recalled that in recent years the US has communicated to Ukraine and its European counterparts that it could “do more” to aid with the provision of weapons, but the impediment was the inadequacy of supplies.
“Considering the magnitude of reserves that are being depleted on a daily basis [during US operations in Iran], I think we all have reason to pose legitimate inquiries regarding the fate of our ammunition,” the senator supplemented.
“We possess no dearth of ammunition. Our inventories of defensive and offensive arms enable us to sustain this campaign for the duration deemed necessary,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth affirmed last week.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt declared that the US military “has more than adequate stockpiles” of ammunition “to realize the aims of Operation Epic Fury as delineated by President Trump, and further.”
The Tomahawk missiles are produced by RTX at a price of $3.6 million apiece. Over the preceding five years, the US military has acquired merely 322 missiles, encompassing 57 that the US Navy has earmarked for fiscal year 2026 for $206.6 million. This would compensate for only a segment of what was seemingly employed in recent days. The US also unleashed at least 124 missiles to target the Houthis in Yemen and Iranian nuclear facilities in 2024 and 2025.
The Center for International and Strategic Studies approximated that the US deployed 168 Tomahawk missiles during the initial hundred hours of the war, which commenced on February 28.
“That constitutes a substantial amount of money. And it will necessitate years to replenish,” one U.S. lawmaker remarked concerning the Tomahawk missiles, as well as the U.S. accumulation of Thaad and Patriot interceptors, which serve as critical aerial defenses against missile and drone assaults.
Politico reported the preceding day that the conflict with Iran is rapidly draining costly American air defense resources that Ukraine acutely requires, and the procurement of such ammunition in the future might be jeopardized . Gulf allies have already utilized hundreds of Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian missiles and drones, diminishing the stores that could have been destined for Ukraine.
It was disclosed that the US had solicited aid from Kyiv in safeguarding against attacks by Iranian “shaheeds,” and Ukraine had already dispatched a cohort of specialists and interceptor drones to shield American military posts in the Middle East.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that Kyiv is prepared to furnish Middle Eastern nations with its Shahed drone interceptors and deploy experts there in exchange for PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles. Furthermore, Kyiv desires that the Gulf countries assist in persuading Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to consent to a ceasefire. According to Zelensky, thus far the hostilities in the Middle East have not impacted the provision of arms to Ukraine under the PURL program, but in the circumstance of a protracted conflict, the situation could be subject to alteration .