Iran war costs in blood and treasure soar as mission remains unclear
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How many U.S. service members have been killed and injured so far in the Iran conflict?
The human and financial costs tied to the US war in Iran continue to grow. Yesterday, President Donald Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base to oversee the dignified transfer of four US service members killed in the war. That brings the total of US military deaths to at least 18, with around 500 injured. On the financial front, President Donald Trump is seeking another $67 billion in defense spending, even as questions persist about the mission's objectives, timeline, and lack of congressional oversight. If Iran is weaker than it's been in decades, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claims, why is so much more money needed? Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, July 23rd, 2026.
For the latest on the war in Iran, I'm joined by USA Today White House correspondent Joey Garrison. So good to have you back on The Excerpt, Joey.
Thanks for having me.
The U.S. death toll has now climbed to at least 18 over four months. I want to take a moment to talk specifically about the recent deaths of four American soldiers and the U.S. response. What happened there?
So three of the four soldiers whose remains President Trump honored with the return back to the United States in Dover, Delaware yesterday, three of those four were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan. The fourth troop was killed trying to do a controlled detonation of a plane. drone in Northern Iraq. And you pointed out the three soldiers who died tragically in Jordan. That points to a possible widening of this war to beyond some of the areas we've seen conflicts so far. So that's why obviously most tragic, their deaths, it's also significant for where this war is going to proceed from here.
We found out this week that roughly 500 service members have been injured since the start of the war, 100 just this month. Is it clear why it took so long for the information about the newly injured to be shared with the American people?
That's really unclear right now. I mean, it required some reporting from the New York Times. CBS News as well had to independently report on finding what had been undisclosed high counts of casualties during this war. Later, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement that 100 soldiers have been injured in the war in Iran since then. July 7th, they said the vast majority of those have been concussions and those individuals have been able to return to the service. But it points to the administration not really being completely open about the toll that's being taken in the war in Iran.
Joy, on Tuesday, Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee as he sought tens of billions in emergency defense spending from Congress to pay for the war in Iran. There was pushback on the scope of the funding. How much has been spent on the war in Iran so far? What reasons were given for the additional request?
Well, officially, Hegseth told Congress that $37.5 billion has been spent so far on the war. But there's other estimates out there that show a significantly higher amount has been spent. And so oftentimes that funding includes a certain amount of money spent to a certain date. But on top of that $37.5 billion, the Pentagon is asking for an additional $67 billion in emergency funding for this current fiscal budget in order to pay for that war. So it's taken a massive amount of taxpayer dollars to keep this going. is making that case, in addition to this money needed for Iran, that he also needs $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon for the next budget. And that marks a massive 44% increase over defense spending from the previous year.
And so he's asking for these things at the same time.
The $67 billion in emergency funding is part of a larger $87.6 billion supplemental budget request for the Defense Department. What's the additional funding for?
Yeah, there's additional dollars set aside for farmers through the U.S. Ag Department, as well as funding that Republicans want to pass to implement elements of Trump's SAVE Act, which of course would overhaul certain voting in federal elections.
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