The Pentagon released its first public estimate of the cost of the war to date. The figure: US$ 25 billion (more than R$ 125 billion). The data were disclosed during the testimony of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine to the American Congress on the war in the Middle East.
Hegseth’s grilling occurs at a moment when peace negotiations with Tehran have reached an impasse.
The Secretary of Defense, who is criticized by the Democratic opposition for the lack of information provided about the conflict, answers questions from members of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Democrats pressed Hegseth about the war, questioning what it has achieved. The secretary attacked critics of the Trump administration, saying that the “greatest adversary” of the American armed forces are the “ineffective and defeatist” words of Democrats and of some Republicans in Congress.
The Pentagon’s budget request, of US$ 1.45 trillion – an increase of approximately 40% compared with this year’s budget – is also the subject of the hearing. Hegseth insisted that the spending was necessary to bring the Pentagon’s industrial base to a “war-time” footing.
In a meeting with executives from the oil industry, President Donald Trump said that he is considering maintaining the naval blockade of Iranian ports for months, if necessary.
During a State Dinner at the White House on Tuesday, the 28th, Trump told King Charles III that Tehran had been “militarily defeated.” The spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, Amir Akraminia, however, told state television moments later that the Islamic Republic does not consider “the war over” and that Tehran “does not trust the United States.”
The latest proposal from Tehran, transmitted through mediator Pakistan and discussed by Trump and his aides in a meeting on Monday the 27th, sets non-negotiable points, the so-called “red lines,” which include the Iranian nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz, according to the news agency Fars.
Information indicates that the plan would also require Tehran to reduce control over the maritime channel and that Washington would suspend the blockade of Iranian ports while broader negotiations continue.
