There was a report that the Ministry of National Defense requested more than $200 billion in additional funding for the Middle East war. That amount is about 23% of the U.S. defense budget for fiscal year 2026.
On the 18th (local time), the Washington Post (WP), citing multiple government officials, reported that the Ministry of National Defense asked the White House for approval to request from Congress a budget exceeding $200 billion (about 300 trillion won) for war funds. The budget is intended to urgently replenish precision-guided munitions and key materiel that the United States and Israel have consumed over the past three weeks, and to expand production capacity for future operations, and it is said that the White House has not yet finalized the total amount.
In fact, war expenses are rising rapidly. It is estimated that more than about $11 billion (about 16.5 trillion won) in expenses were incurred in just the first week of the war's start, and, in response, the Trump administration began work to secure additional resources immediately after the operation began. Previously, during the Iraq War, the United States had expected a total cost of $60 billion before the outbreak, but in reality received a bill of $1.7 trillion even excluding compensation.
Inside the Ministry of National Defense, it appears that the budget proposal was prepared under the leadership of Vice Minister Steven Feinberg. Earlier, Vice Minister Feinberg had set as key tasks over the past year the strengthening of the U.S. defense industrial base and the expansion of precision weapons production, and as ammunition stocks plummeted due to the war, it is known that various sizes of budget packages were reviewed. The analysis is that the proposal aims not only to fund the war but also to reorganize the defense industry's supply chain, where production had been delayed.
However, the congressional approval process is unlikely to be smooth. Public opinion in the United States is not favorable to the Iran war, and the Democratic Party is mounting a strong offensive against military intervention and additional fiscal expenditure. The ruling Republican Party is also, in principle, friendly to budget support, but it has been observed that it has not prepared a concrete legislative strategy to secure the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate.
The supplemental funding request also clashes with President Donald Trump's existing policy stance. During the presidential campaign, President Trump pledged to reduce overseas military intervention and strongly criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for supporting the Ukraine war. In fact, the U.S. Congress approved about $188 billion for the Ukraine war, and the additional request related to the current Iran war is expected to far exceed that. If the $1.5 trillion increase in defense spending that President Trump proposed also becomes a reality, the controversy over fiscal burdens and policy consistency is expected to intensify.
Even if the budget is approved, some note that there may be limits to translating it into actual strengthening of the U.S. defense industry and force. The U.S. defense industry currently faces structural constraints such as a shortage of skilled labor, limited production infrastructure, and delays in securing key raw materials, making it virtually impossible to sharply ramp up output in the short term.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said, "There is significant uncertainty in current estimates of war expenses, and Congress wants to know the total cost clearly," and added, "If the administration requests additional funds, anti-war public opinion will converge and a large-scale political clash will be inevitable."
Elaine McCusker, former accounting officer at the Ministry of National Defense, explained, "Injecting funds into the industrial base does not guarantee an immediate increase in production, but it is also true that without such investment, it will only be further delayed."
Meanwhile, as indications emerge one after another that the justification for this war—that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons development—was not true, public opinion on the war is likely to worsen further. Previously, former National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Joe Kent revealed, "President Trump decided to attack Iran after listening only to the opinions of a few close aides," and "there was no 'imminent threat' from Iran, but Israel induced U.S. military action."