The figure, revealed during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, is about $4 billion higher than the department's previous estimate given two weeks ago. Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine and Pentagon finance chief Jules Hurst III were asked about the war's price tag during testimony on the administration's $1.5 trillion 2027 defense budget request. "At the time of testimony... it was $25 billion", Hurst said, referring to Hegseth's April 29 estimate. "But the joint staff team and the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate, and so now we think it's closer to 29", he said -- citing updated "repair and replacement of equipment costs" and broader operational expenses. Democrats and other critics of the war have questioned the Pentagon's calculations, suggesting the true cost -- including damage inflicted by Iran -- could be far higher. Pressed on when Congress would receive a fuller accounting, Hegseth said the administration would request "whatever we think we need" separately from the Pentagon budget, without giving a timeline. The testimony came as a fragile US-Iran ceasefire appeared increasingly shaky, with Trump warning Monday that the truce was on "life support" after rejecting Tehran's latest peace proposal. Democrats used the hearing to hammer the administration over the ballooning cost of the war and what they described as a lack of transparency about US objectives. "The question must be answered at the end: what have we accomplished and at what cost?" asked Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. (Bssnews)