US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gone before Congress seeking a funding boost of almost $90 billion (£70bn), the bulk of which would go towards military operations connected to escalating conflict with Iran. The request comes after roughly two months of intensifying hostilities, during which the US and Iran have exchanged strikes over about ten nights, with Tehran launching waves of missiles and armed drones at American bases across the region. The scale of the request underlines mounting concern in Washington over the cost and toll of sustaining operations against Iranian attacks.

The human cost has been significant: an Iranian strike on a joint US-Jordanian airbase killed two soldiers and left another missing and presumed dead, including a 19-year-old servicewoman, while further casualties resulted from drone attacks on a US base in northern Iraq. The Pentagon has also disclosed that 100 service members were wounded over just a fortnight. Former US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel warned that forward-positioned American bases, once considered an advantage, have become vulnerable to Iranian drones capable of travelling up to 1,000 miles. Lawmakers questioning Hegseth have raised concerns about rapidly depleting munitions stocks and criticised the Pentagon for limited transparency on casualties since May.