U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth [Reuters Yonhap News]

The U.S. Department of Defense (formerly the War Department) has requested over $200 billion (approximately 300 trillion won) in additional funds from the White House to wage war against Iran, the Washington Post (WP) reported on the 18th (local time).

According to the report, the additional budget is planned to accelerate the production of key weapons used by the U.S. and Israel in thousands of bombings over the past three weeks.

The amount proposed by the U.S. Department of Defense is significantly higher than the cost incurred by the U.S. military in large-scale airstrikes since the war began on the 28th of last month.

The U.S. military spent over $11 billion (approximately 16.5 trillion won) in the first week of the war, and the cost of the war is escalating rapidly.

Under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the U.S. defense budget for fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 - September 2026) is $901 billion (approximately 1,350 trillion won).

U.S. President Donald Trump declared in January of this year, before the war with Iran, that he would increase next year's defense budget to $1.5 trillion (approximately 2,250 trillion won).

The U.S. government began preparing an additional budget to cover costs immediately after initiating the war against Iran.

This is a necessary procedure to ensure that the U.S. military maintains its readiness to defend against threats worldwide, even while engaged in a conflict.

The U.S. government's pursuit of an additional budget is expected to be accompanied by significant political debate, commensurate with the immense sum involved.

Currently, public opinion in the U.S. is lukewarm in its support for the war, and the opposition Democratic Party is vociferously criticizing it daily.

Even within the ruling Republican Party and among the MAGA base, core supporters of President Trump, there are visible disagreements regarding whether the war serves the national interest.

While Republicans are signaling their support for the additional budget, their strategy for congressional approval is reportedly not yet concrete or firm.

On the 19th, during a battlefield briefing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Cain, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not deny the report but stated that it "could fluctuate."

Secretary Hegseth explained, "It costs money to kill bad guys. So, we will go back to Congress and our colleagues there to ensure that we have the appropriate budget for what we have done and what we will have to do, and that everything, including munitions, is replenished and then some."

The proposed additional budget is anticipated to be a litmus test for gauging public support for the war, which is being spearheaded by President Trump.

Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, commented, "When the administration asks for more money, all the anti-war sentiment will coalesce there, so there will be a huge political fight."